Offshore drilling firm Noble Corporation will sell four jack-up drilling rigs to drilling company ADES for $292 million.
Noble Corp, which recently acquired Pacific Drilling, expects to generate around $285 million in cash from the ADES transaction net of fees, expenses, and the settlement of working capital.
The rigs in question are the Noble Roger Lewis, Noble Scott Marks, Noble Joe Knight, and Noble Johnny Whitstine.
They will be sold and the current drilling contracts will be novated to ADES. Closing is expected before the end of October 2021. All four rigs are on contracts with the Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.
Robert Eifler, President and CEO of Noble Corporation said: "We are very pleased to have reached this mutually beneficial deal with ADES, which is accretive to our shareholders. The sale of these four jackups further bolsters our already strong balance sheet and improves Noble’s financial flexibility.
"As we look to 2022, our anticipated net cash position coupled with our expected free cash flow generation better positions the company to execute on our financial priorities to repay debt and return cash to shareholders,” he said.
Eifler continued, “Our crews in the Kingdom have executed at the highest level for many years, and Noble and ADES are fully aligned to ensure this level of operational excellence is maintained. I would personally like to thank the Noble employees who will be hired by ADES for their dedicated service and wish them continued success.”