New York-listed offshore driller Valaris has been awarded one extension and one new contract for two of its drillships from oil and gas player Anadarko.
The company won a 940-day contract extension for the 2014-built Valaris DS-16 drillship, starting in June 2026, when its current deal is supposed to end.
The drillship has been working for Occidental’s subsidiary since June 2024. With this new extension, the rig will stay with Anadarko in the US Gulf of Mexico into the first quarter of 2029.
Anadarko also awarded a new contract to the 2015-built Valaris DS-18 for work in the Gulf of Mexico. It will last for 914 days, or just under two years and seven months. It is expected to start in the mid-fourth quarter of 2026.
The rig is set to end its three-year deal with Chevron in August this year. After that, it will be out of service for around 20 days for planned maintenance.
According to Valaris, the combined addition to the contracted revenue backlog is approximately $760m.
“We’ve secured approximately $1.9bn in new contract backlog so far this year. We remain focused on securing additional attractive, long-term contracts for our high-specification assets that will further support our earnings and cash flow,” said Anton Dibowitz, CEO of Valaris.
