Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL) (Valaris) announced today that it has been awarded a 12-well contract offshore West Africa for drillship VALARIS DS-7, which will be reactivated for this contract. The Company also announced that it is increasing its 2023 share repurchase target from $150 million to $200 million.
The contract is expected to commence in second quarter 2024 and has an estimated duration of 850 days. The total contract value is estimated to be $364 million. The contract requires minimal customer-specific upgrades to the rig and does not include the provision of any additional services.
President and Chief Executive Officer Anton Dibowitz said, “This most recent award represents the seventh contract awarded to one of our high-quality floaters requiring reactivation since mid-2021 and speaks volumes about our demonstrated track record of project execution when reactivating rigs and delivering operational excellence for our customers. We continue to take a disciplined approach to rig reactivations, and we expect this contract to generate a meaningful return over the initial firm term.”
Dibowitz added, “In May, we announced an increase in our share repurchase authorization to $300 million and our intent to repurchase $150 million of shares by year-end 2023. To date, we have repurchased $91 million of shares. As a result of this attractive contract award and our continued commitment to returning capital to shareholders, we are increasing our 2023 share repurchase target from $150 million to $200 million.”