Valaris obtains court approval to sell jack-up rig for $25 million

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., Jan. 22 – Valaris plc secured court approval to sell one of its jack-up rigs, the Ensco 101, to JSC Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka for $25 million in cash, according to an order filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of Texas.

Debtor Ensco Offshore International Co. and the buyer engaged in extensive, arms’-length negotiations on the terms of the agreement in December, as previously reported.

Valaris said in its motion that the sale will provide the debtors with roughly $24.75 million of incremental liquidity and relieve them of the costs of holding the rig, which has been preservation stacked since October.

“The debtors incur substantial costs in connection with preservation stacking the rig, and would incur additional costs in connection with reactivating the rig if the company were to obtain a drilling contract utilizing the rig,” the company said.

“Given that the debtors are not currently utilizing the rig, realizing the value of the rig now through the sale is more beneficial to the debtors’ estates than continuing to preservation stack the rig.”

Valaris is a London-based offshore drilling company. The company filed bankruptcy on Aug. 19 under Chapter 11 case number 20-34114.

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