Offshore drilling contractor Valaris announced on Monday that it has been awarded new bareboat charter agreements with ARO Drilling for several jackups. ARO Drilling, a joint venture between Valaris and Saudi Aramco, has signed contracts with the latter for the same periods as the bareboat charter agreements.
Heavy-duty harsh environment jackup VALARIS 250, heavy-duty modern jackup VALARIS 116 and standard-duty modern jackups VALARIS 143 and 146 will each commence three-year extensions to their bareboat charter agreements upon completion of their existing agreements with ARO Drilling in December 2021.
Also, ARO Drilling owned rigs ARO 3003 and ARO 3004 have each been awarded five-year contract extensions with Aramco that will commence upon completion of their existing contracts in December 2021.
Valaris’ president and CEO, Anton Dibowitz, said, “We are very pleased to have secured additional work for four of our high-quality modern jackups, extending our long-standing relationship with Aramco, one of the largest customers for offshore drilling rigs in the world. ARO Drilling is a strategic asset for Valaris, providing a continued presence in an important offshore basin and long-term growth prospects via ARO’s twenty-rig newbuild program, with the first two newbuild jackups expected to be delivered in the second half of 2022. We look forward to continuing to work with our joint venture partner, Aramco, on growing and delivering value from ARO Drilling.”