Noble shows itself to be a tower of strength offshore

By ERIK MEANS Schiedam the Netherlands

 28 October 2011 00:36 GMT

US RIG owner Noble Corporation, having placed a bet of more than $2 billion on four compact drillships that no other owner has yet seen fit to order, will be under the microscope in the next few months as three of these prototype vessels begin operations.

For Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell the wager is arguably even higher, as it has taken the first unit on a five-year charter, while lining up each of the other three on 10-year contracts.

“I’d never seen 10-year contracts before… we now have three with Shell,” Noble chief executive David Williams told Upstream.

Williams has high expectations of the new additions to his 79-strong fleet, particularly with regards to the novel new unit that currently lies in Schiedam, the Netherlands, for final outfitting before delivery in December. This vessel, the Noble Globetrotter 1, could represent…

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