Valaris plc is an

offshore drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the te ...

contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and incorporated in the UK. It is the largest

and

well drilling Well drilling is the process of drilling a hole in the ground for the extraction of a natural resource such as ground water, brine, natural gas, or petroleum, for the injection of a fluid from surface to a subsurface reservoir or for subsurf ...

company in the world, and owns 56 rigs, including 40 offshore jackup rigs, 11

drillship A drillship is a merchant vessel designed for use in exploratory offshore drilling of new oil and gas wells or for scientific drilling purposes. In recent years the vessels have been used in deepwater and ultra-deepwater applications, equipped ...

s, and 5

semi-submersible platform A semi-submersible platform is a specialised marine vessel used in offshore roles including as offshore drilling rigs, safety vessels, oil production platforms, and heavy lift cranes. They have good ship stability and seakeeping, better than ...

drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill wa ...

s. In 2021, the company's largest customers were BP (11% of revenues) and

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

(9% of revenues).

History

In 1975, after the 1973 oil crisis, John R. Blocker bought Choya Energy, a six-rig contract drilling company based in

Alice, Texas Alice is a city in, and the county seat of, Jim Wells County, Texas, United States, in the South Texas region of the state. The population was 19,104 at the 2010 census. Alice was established in 1888. First it was called "Bandana", then "Kleberg ...

, and renamed the company Blocker Energy. In 1980, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

. In 1981 and early 1982, the company borrowed heavily to expand its fleet to 54 rigs. However, in late 1982, the price of oil plunged and, to avoid bankruptcy, Blocker Energy restructured, giving 64% of the company to its banks in exchange for $240 million in debt forgiveness. By 1983, the company was only operating 6 rigs, although that number increased to 24 in 1984. By 1985, the worldwide employee count of the company was down to 500. Richard Rainwater's BEC Ventures made an investment in the company in 1986 and chose Carl F. Thorne to run the company, which he did until his retirement 20 years later. In 1987, the company changed its name to Energy Service Company (Ensco). In 1990, in a transaction orchestrated by Rainwater, who owned 21% of the company, the company acquired Penrod, previously controlled by Ray Lee Hunt, which added 19 rigs to its fleet. In 2010, the company moved its headquarters to London and became a UK-registered company. In May 2011, the company acquired Pride International. The company closed its Dallas office and consolidated it into its Houston office. In 2019, the company merged with Rowan Companies and changed its name to Valaris plc. In August 2020, the company filed for a prearranged bankruptcy. It emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Valaris plc 1975 establishments in Texas 1980s initial public offerings Companies based in the City of Westminster Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 Drilling rig operators Service companies of the United Kingdom Tax inversions Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States

History

See also

References

External links