Offshore drilling company Valaris, through its joint venture ARO Drilling, has received a notice of suspension from Aramco for its VALARIS 143 jack-up rig.
The rig’s contract was previously scheduled to end in December 2024. The suspension notice is for a period of up to 12 months and ARO is in discussions with Aramco to determine the effective date of the suspension, the company said.
During the suspension period, ARO will have the right to terminate the drilling contract with Aramco.
As one of its 19 contracted rigs to Aramco, Valaris leases VALARIS 143 to ARO under a bareboat charter agreement.
This is just one in line of recent rig suspensions handed out by Aramco.
Earlier this week, Aramco temporarily suspended the jack-up rig Arabia I from the offshore drilling contractor Borr Drilling.
Also, Shelf Drilling received a notice of suspension of operations of four jack-up rigs from a customer in the Middle East, which is believed to come from Aramco.
The suspension follows Aramco’s cutback of planned maximum sustainable oil production capacity to 12 million barrels a day (bpd), from 13 million bpd almost four years ago,
Late in January 2024, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned company received directive from the government to return to its previous capacity target.
At the time, Morgan Stanley analysts said the decision could reflect "a government expectation that demand for its oil will no longer rise as strongly as previously expected.”
