Noble Corporation plc reported new contract awards covering nine rigs, adding about $1.3 billion of backlog. The awards include a three-year program for the harsh-environment semisubmersible Noble GreatWhite, which is set to move the contractor’s Norway footprint into the harsh-environment floater segment.
President and CEO Robert W. Eifler said the additions point to multi-year demand for deepwater drilling. He also said redeploying four currently idle deepwater rigs is expected to improve utilization, with 92% of the company’s 24 marketed floaters now contracted versus 75% in the prior fleet status report. The company said the programs will require incremental one-time capital expenditure in 2026, while supporting increased fleet EBITDA and free cash flow in later years, alongside a material reduction in capital expenditure beyond 2026.
For offshore Norway, Aker BP awarded Noble GreatWhite a three-year contract expected to commence in Q2 2027. The award represents about $473 million of total contract value, including a mobilization fee and excluding integrated services and bonus potential. The campaign is the unit’s first in Norway, and the contractor anticipates about $160 million of capital expenditure for reactivation and contract preparation.
In Nigeria, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East) Ltd—an ExxonMobil affiliate—awarded the drillship Noble Gerry de Souza a two-year drilling contract with options for up to three additional years. Operations are targeted for mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals and conditions, and are expected to add an estimated $292 million to backlog while resuming operations through PIDWAL, the Nigerian joint venture with Derotech. The rig is planned to be upgraded for Managed Pressure Drilling ahead of the program.
In Guyana, ExxonMobil awarded two additional rig years of backlog under the Commercial Enabling Agreement, assigned evenly across the four drillships Noble Sam Croft, Noble Don Taylor, Noble Tom Madden, and Noble Bob Douglas, extending each rig through February 2029.
In the U.S. Gulf, Beacon Offshore Energy awarded Noble BlackRhino a contract for one workover well scheduled to commence in March 2026 with an estimated duration of 50 days, plus an option for an additional well with an estimated duration of 100 days.
In South America, the semisubmersible Noble Endeavor was awarded an 11-well contract with an undisclosed operator, estimated to commence in late 2026 at a dayrate of $0.3 million, plus mobilization and demobilization fees, with potential additional revenue from a performance incentive provision.
In Trinidad, bp awarded Noble Developer a three-well contract with an estimated duration of 240 days, scheduled to commence in Q1 2027 at a dayrate of $0.4 million, with options for up to three additional wells with an estimated combined duration of 240 days. The company also said the previously announced three-year TotalEnergies contract in Suriname, formerly assigned to Noble Developer, has been transferred to Noble Discoverer.
Across the awards, the contractor anticipates about $50 million of contract preparation capital expenditure in 2026 in addition to the Noble GreatWhite program.
