ADES, a Middle East-focused offshore drilling company, is continuing with its April offshore rig shopping spree.
After agreeing to buy four jack-up drilling rigs from Aban Offshore, and one from Maersk Drilling earlier this month, ADES has now agreed to buy Valaris' heavy-duty jack-ups Valaris 113 and 114. The price for the two rigs is $125 million.
Valaris 113 and 114 are PPL Pacific Class 400 jackups, both delivered in 2012. Both rigs have been stacked in the Philippines since they completed their last contracts in late 2015.
Valaris President and Chief Executive Officer Anton Dibowitz said, “We are pleased to have closed the sale of the VALARIS 113 and 114 at values which are highly accretive to our shareholders. Each rig had been stacked for more than six years and would have required meaningful capital to reactivate. We will continue to take a rational approach to fleet management, including regularly assessing our fleet for retirement and divestiture candidates.”
ADES, whose clients include both national oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Oil Company, as well as joint ventures of NOCs with global majors including BP and Eni, last year also bought jack-up drilling rigs from Noble Corporation and Vantage Drilling, too.
ADES was last year bought by Innovate Energy Holding, a company backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. The company that used to be listed on London Stock Exchange was then taken private.