Noble Corp.'s marketed fleet of 16 floating drilling rigs was 78% contracted during the second quarter, the company said in a trading update.
Leading day rates for tier-1 drillships remain in the high $400,000-$500,000/d range.
Use of Noble’s 13 marketed jackups improved to 77% in the quarter, with rates for harsh environment jackups in the mid $200,000s/d in Norway and $130,000-$150,000/d elsewhere in the North Sea.
Looking ahead, Noble sees moderately improving demand for jackups in Norway in 2025, but a more cautious near-term outlook in the southern North Sea due to policy/permitting uncertainty in the UK under the new Labour administration.
Over the quarter, the company secured new contracts with a total value of about $275 million for the following:
- Murphy Oil extended the tenure of the Noble Stanley Lafosse by exercising five option wells in the Gulf of Mexico, which is an additional scope of $177 million based on a one-year duration to February 2026.
- In the UK North Sea, bp took up options to extend Noble Innovator’s contract duration by about eight months at a day rate of $155,000.
- Noble Resolve has a 45-day, one-well contract from Central European Petroleum offshore Poland at $140,000/d, plus mobilization and demobilization. The program is due to start in September 2024.
- The same rig has a contract from an unnamed operator in Spain for a 13-well P&A scope valued at about $40 million, and it is due to start in second-quarter 2025 (170 days).
- Noble Resilient’s new one-well intervention contract from Harbour Energy (30-70 days) began last month.
- While in Argentina, TotalEnergies extended the Noble Regina Allen’s contract by taking up options for two wells at $150,000/d (60 days in total).
As of July 31, Noble’s overall contract backlog totalled $4.2 billion.
