stockrowWhat it does
Noble Corporation provides offshore drilling services to oil and gas companies. Its customers hire Noble and its rigs to drill wells at sea, rather than buying the rigs themselves. Noble supplies the drilling unit, its crew and operational support for work specified in each customer contract. Its customers include integrated, independent and government-owned or controlled oil and gas companies.
Noble operates two main types of mobile rig. Floaters include drillships and semisubmersible rigs, which remain on the water while drilling. Drillships can use positioning systems to stay over a well without anchors; semisubmersibles use anchors or positioning systems. Jackups have legs lowered to the seabed, allowing their hulls to be raised above the water. They can drill in open water or over existing platforms.
At December 31, 2025, Noble’s fleet consisted of 36 drilling rigs: 25 floaters and 11 jackups. At February 12, 2026, the fleet included 31 rigs: 25 floaters and 6 jackups. The company focuses largely on deepwater and ultra-deepwater work, as well as jackup drilling in harsh environments.
Noble’s rigs can move between regions as customer requirements change. Its operations are managed as one Contract Drilling Services segment. Robert W. Eifler is president and chief executive officer. Noble and its predecessors have engaged in contract drilling of oil and gas wells since 1921.
How it makes money
Noble generally hires out each rig under an individual drilling contract. Customers typically pay a dayrate: a fixed amount for each day the rig operates under contract, although a contract can also include a performance-based component. Contracts may run for a set period or for the time needed to drill a specified number of wells. Many are awarded through competitive bidding, and final terms are negotiated with customers.
The daily payment is not always the same throughout a contract. A lower rate or no compensation may apply during equipment breakdowns, repairs, adverse weather or other interruptions. Customers can have early termination rights, including termination for convenience with a specified payment. Some contracts allow Noble to recover certain cost increases, while others require dayrate reductions for documented cost decreases. Payments are generally in US dollars, though some customers require part of the payment in local currency.
Floaters generated $2.6 billion in FY2025, or 78.2% of revenue. Noble also earns revenue from jackups and from reimbursables and other items. Its contract drilling backlog represents estimated future revenue from signed contracts; it excludes customer reimbursements and uncommitted option periods. Backlog is not necessarily the revenue the company will ultimately realize, because some contracts provide early termination rights.
FY2025 operating revenue was $3.3 billion; Q3 2026 total revenue was $684 million.
Under Noble’s agreement with ExxonMobil, dayrates for the covered rigs are repriced twice a year to the projected market rate, subject to a discount and performance bonus. Other arrangements have rate structures linked to operating modes, incentives and expenses.
| Product or service | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floaters | $2.6 billion | 78.2% | 9.28% |
| Jackups | $539.5 million | 16.4% | −5.20% |
| Reimbursables and other | $178.4 million | 5.43% | 28.3% |
Customers and how it sells
Noble’s customers are primarily large integrated, independent and government-owned or controlled oil and gas companies. They hire rigs for exploration and development programs, with the choice of rig depending on factors such as water depth, the drilling environment and the intended well depth. Contracts are negotiated with customers, and many are awarded through competitive bidding.
ExxonMobil, BP and Petrobras were Noble’s largest disclosed customers in 2025. Shell and TotalEnergies are also named customers. Noble’s agreement with ExxonMobil covers the Noble Tom Madden, Noble Bob Douglas, Noble Don Taylor and Noble Sam Croft, with dayrates adjusted periodically. The company also has contracts with Shell and TotalEnergies that include performance revenue.
At December 31, 2025, Noble’s fleet operated in Africa, Far East Asia, the North Sea, Oceania, South America and the US Gulf. Its rigs are mobile and can be redeployed between regions in response to customer requirements. Moving a rig can involve mobilization and demobilization costs, which contracts may allow Noble to recover.
In 2026, the Noble Voyager began a four-year contract with Shell in the U.S. Gulf. Noble also secured a contract for the Noble Black Rhino with TotalEnergies in Nigeria and a capacity reservation agreement for the Noble Globetrotter 1 with TotalEnergies, with initial work scheduled in Angola.
| Segment | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reportable Segment | $3.3 billion | 100.0% | 7.45% |
Suppliers and costs
Noble pays the operating expenses of its drilling units, including labor and incidental supplies. Its rigs require repair and maintenance, and the company uses data analytics and predictive maintenance technology as part of its approach to managing operating costs. Noble employed approximately 4,500 people at December 31, 2025, excluding people engaged through labor contractors or agencies.
Moving a rig between regions creates mobilization and demobilization costs. Contracts can allow Noble to recover those costs, although market conditions may prevent full reimbursement. Certain long-term contracts also allow the company to recover some cost increases from customers. Some employees and contractors in international markets work under collective bargaining or similar agreements that are periodically renegotiated.
Noble’s cost profile is sensitive to labor-market conditions, capital-intensive rig repair and maintenance, trade and sanctions regimes, and geopolitical events. The company expects inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions to persist. It also expects tariffs or trade wars to potentially increase the cost of some products and services.
Noble is spending capital on rig maintenance and upgrades. It expects those investments to include work on its drillships and on making the Klaus Bachmann capable of operating in Norway.
- Revenue$3.3B
- Cost of revenue−$1.9B
- Selling, general and administrative−$269.5M
- Other operating costs−$684.9M
- Operating income$415.6M
Competitive position
Offshore contract drilling is competitive and cyclical. Noble competes in floating-rig and ultra-harsh-environment jackup markets, whose supply and demand can differ by region and period. No competing drilling company is named in the available company information.
Customers select contractors primarily on price, rig availability, drilling capabilities, technical specifications and safety performance. Workforce experience, equipment condition, operating integrity and customer relationships also matter. Noble’s mobile fleet can be repositioned among regions, and its drillships and semisubmersibles serve different water depths and operating environments.
Our reading: Noble’s fleet capabilities and mobility are a meaningful source of competitive position because they let it pursue technically demanding work in different basins. That position is constrained by customers’ ability to compare rigs on price and availability when awarding contracts.
Our reading: Workforce experience and customer relationships can support contract bids, but the competitive process does not guarantee repeat work or pricing power. The company’s contracts can also end early under specified circumstances.
Noble has observed that customers continue to favor its highest-specification floaters. It expects that continued preference, under current market fundamentals, could reduce utilization for its lower-specification drillships and semisubmersibles. Noble also reported that global rig supply has declined as contractors retired less capable and idle assets, while incoming supply of newbuild rigs has diminished.
Growth opportunities
Noble seeks work from offshore exploration and development programs, including contracts in deepwater and harsh environments. It expects offshore oil and gas to continue to play a role in meeting global energy demand. The company also sees a challenge to its market from the transition from hydrocarbons to renewable energy.
At December 31, 2025, Noble had approximately $7.0 billion in contract drilling backlog. Backlog reflects estimated revenue from signed contracts, but actual results can differ because contracts may be terminated early and other assumptions may not hold. As of October 26, 2026, Noble’s backlog stood at $6.7 billion, including approximately $2.6 billion scheduled for revenue conversion in 2027.
Noble secured approximately $560 million in new contract awards over the three months preceding its Q3 2026 update. Those awards included work for the Noble Black Rhino in Nigeria and the Noble Globetrotter 1 in Angola. The Globetrotter agreement covers light well intervention services, while the rig was also scheduled for an exploration campaign in Peru.
Noble expects more contracted fleet capacity in the second half of 2027 than in the first half. It also plans rig upgrades, including equipment for its drillships and work to make the Klaus Bachmann capable of operating in Norway. The company expects fleet spending to continue through the middle of 2027.
Longer-term contracts can reduce the number of rig start-ups and moves between customers and regions. Contracts scheduled to begin well in the future can also leave interim periods for which Noble must find work.
- $847.8MFY2021
- $1.4BFY2022
- $2.6BFY2023
- $3.1BFY2024
- $3.3BFY2025
- $2.9BFY2026 guidance
Structural risks
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Oil and gas activity: Demand depends on customers’ offshore exploration and development programs. Oil and gas prices, global energy demand, customers’ capital allocation and the relative cost of offshore resources can affect those programs.
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Contract and utilization risk: Customers may have early termination rights, and periods of breakdown, adverse weather or other interruptions can result in lower dayrates or no compensation. Noble expects near-term utilization headwinds and notes that customers may seek to renegotiate contracts during depressed markets.
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Operational and environmental hazards: Offshore drilling involves hazards including loss of well control, fire, equipment failure and adverse weather. Customers generally assume certain liabilities for pollution originating below the water’s surface, while Noble is generally responsible for pollution originating above it. Customers are seeking more favorable risk allocations.
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Regulation and permits: Environmental and other regulations can require operating and capital spending. Permitting challenges or more stringent rules can delay, restrict or halt operations, and compliance burdens on customers can affect demand for Noble’s services.
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Costs and supply chains: Labor conditions, rig repairs, maintenance, tariffs and geopolitical events can affect costs and daily operations. Noble expects inflationary pressure and supply-chain disruptions to continue.
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Energy transition: Investment in renewable energy and changes in government policy can challenge the oil and gas sector and Noble’s market. Customers’ strategies toward alternative energy are among the factors influencing offshore drilling demand.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Noble is a contract-service business built around mobile offshore rigs, with revenue dependent on keeping them working at negotiated rates. Its fleet and geographic reach support access to different offshore markets, but customers can compare contractors on price and availability. Backlog provides visibility into signed work rather than guaranteed revenue, while drilling hazards, customer spending decisions and the cost of maintaining rigs remain central exposures.