Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has secured new contract awards for nine rigs totaling about $1.3 billion in backlog, including a three-year deal that marks its entry into Norway’s harsh-environment floater market.
The largest award is a three-year contract for the semisubmersible Noble GreatWhite with Aker BP for offshore Norway, expected to begin in the second quarter of 2027. The contract represents about $473 million in total value, including a mobilization fee and excluding integrated services and potential bonuses.
The campaign will be Noble GreatWhite’s first in Norway and expands the company’s presence on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Noble expects around $160 million in capital expenditure related to reactivation and contract preparation for the rig.
Noble also said the drillship Noble Gerry de Souza had been awarded a two-year contract by Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria (Offshore East), an ExxonMobil affiliate, with options for up to three additional years.
Operations are targeted to begin in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals, and are expected to add about $292 million to backlog through PIDWAL, Noble’s Nigerian joint venture with Derotech. The rig will be upgraded for Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) ahead of the program.
In Guyana, ExxonMobil awarded two additional rig years under an existing commercial enabling agreement, extending contracts evenly across four drillships – Noble Sam Croft, Noble Don Taylor, Noble Tom Madden and Noble Bob Douglas – through February 2029.
Noble BlackRhino received a contract from Beacon Offshore Energy for one workover well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, scheduled to start in March 2026 with an estimated duration of 50 days and an option for an additional 100-day well.
The company also said Noble Endeavor had been awarded an 11-well contract with an undisclosed operator in South America, expected to begin in late 2026 at a dayrate of $300,000, plus mobilization and demobilization fees and potential performance incentives.
In Trinidad, Noble Developer secured a three-well contract with bp with an estimated duration of 240 days, starting in the first quarter of 2027 at a dayrate of $375,000, with options for up to three additional wells. A previously announced three-year contract with TotalEnergies in Suriname was reassigned from Noble Developer to Noble Discoverer.
"These important backlog additions indicate a strong and broad-based demand for deepwater drilling on a multi-year basis. Additionally, the redeployment of four currently idle deepwater rigs should drive a meaningful utilization improvement across our fleet, with 92% of our 24 marketed floaters now contracted compared to 75% in our prior fleet status report,” said Robert W. Eifler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Noble.
Noble said the latest awards will require about $50 million in contract preparation capital expenditure in 2026, in addition to spending related to the Noble GreatWhite program.
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