Valaris has secured a three-year service contract worth about US$290 million in revenue backlog to support BP drilling operations on the Mad Dog and Thunder Horse platforms in the US Gulf.
The company’s 2 November fleet report says the work should begin in January 2027, directly following its existing service contract. This is platform drilling support, rather than an award of a new standalone drillship.
The BP agreement is part of approximately US$600 million in contracts and extensions reported since Valaris’s August fleet update. Total backlog stood at about US$4.8 billion; the new-award figure excludes lump-sum mobilisation payments and capital reimbursements.
The report also lists a roughly 341-day Southern North Sea plugging-and-abandonment contract with an estimated US$41.5 million backlog. It is a fleet award, so a suitable available Valaris rig may perform the work, with commencement permitted up to December 2030.
For offshore crews and suppliers, the awards provide visibility over both continued Gulf operations and future North Sea decommissioning activity. The report does not announce a recruitment programme.
Source: Valaris fleet status report filed with the SEC, 2 November 2026.
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Image credit: Historical file photograph: Thunder Horse semi-submersible platform, 2005. This does not show the new Valaris service contract or current operations. Andyminicooper / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Source photograph; licence. Resized and compressed; same licence retained.
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