Offshore driller Noble Corporation has bagged several new contracts and contract extensions for its drilling units, according to its latest fleet status report.
The Texas-based player has been awarded a one-well contract by Repsol for the jackup Noble Regina Allen for work in Guyana which is expected to commence in May 2022. In Australia, Santos exercised three of its nine one-well options for directly continuous work with the jackup Noble Tom Prosser. In Norway, Equinor took three of its twelve one-well options for the jackup Noble Lloyd Noble.
In the floaters segment, Noble secured a three-well contract from QuarterNorth Energy for the Noble Faye Kozack in the US Gulf of Mexico. The contract is expected to commence in April 2022 at $240,000 per day for the first 50 days and $290,000 per day for the remainder of the contract. The contract also includes three one-well options priced at $290,000 per day or $310,000 per day, subject to oil price thresholds. Also in the US Gulf, Murphy E&P exercised the first two of five one-well options for the Noble Stanley Lafosse. Those two exercised options are priced at $300,000 per day and will commence in direct continuation of the current contract.
Further, Noble has also received a conditional award under the commercial enabling agreement (CEA) with ExxonMobil, which includes approximately 7.4 years of additional contract terms and reallocates all existing terms evenly across the four rigs in Guyana (Noble Tom Madden, Noble Sam Croft, Noble Bob Douglas and Noble Don Taylor). The additional contract term is subject to government approval and final project sanction for the Yellowtail development project. Once finalised, the conditional award will extend the contracted term into the fourth quarter of 2025.
At the end of Q4 2021, the company’s estimated revenue backlog totalled around $1.2bn, excluding the deal in Guyana. Noble reported total liquidity of $860m. “Following significant improvement in the UDW market in 2021, the industry outlook remains positive with a continued upward trajectory in activity levels and dayrates. Forward indicators for both ultra-deepwater and ultra-harsh jackup markets continue to strengthen as we see customers respond to improving commodity prices. 2022 will be another defining year for Noble as we prepare for the closing of our combination with Maersk Drilling and the integration of our two historic companies,” said Robert Eifler, president and CEO of Noble Corporation.
