Five Noble rigs change hands, expanding Borr Drilling’s fleet to 29 jack-ups

January 29, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Borr Drilling, an offshore drilling player with its corporate base in Bermuda, has taken into its fold five premium jack-up rigs, which used to be part of the U.S.-headquartered Noble Corporation’s fleet.

Noble Regina Allen jack-up rig; Credit: Noble

Borr Drilling has completed the acquisition of five premium jack-up rigs from Noble Corporation, consisting of three Friede & Goldman JU-3000N design rigs and two Gusto MSC CJ50 design rigs, for a total purchase price of $360 million.

This addition increases the Bermuda-based player’s fleet to 29 rigs, interpreted to strengthen its ability to serve customers across key offshore basins and solidify its position as a pure-play owner of premium jack-up rigs.

The five jack-up rigs are to be renamed. As a result, Noble Regina Allen will become Sif, Noble Tom Prosser will now be Freyja, Noble Mick O’Brien will be named Forseti, Noble Resolute will change its name to Bestla, and Noble Resilient will be renamed Joro.

Following this acquisition, Borr Drilling claims that it continues to own the youngest jack-up fleet with an international footprint. Noble previously said that it would operate two rigs, Noble Mick O’Brien and Noble Resolute, under a bareboat charter agreement for one year from the signing of the definitive agreement.

Bruno Morand, Borr Drilling’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to have expanded our premium fleet at an opportune point in this market cycle. These five jack-up rigs are highly compatible with our existing portfolio and provide well-suited capacity for near-term opportunities.

“The Borr Drilling platform-built on operational excellence, customer centricity, and our premium jack-up rig fleet-remains our defining competitive advantage, and we believe this expansion will deepen customer relationships and drive attractive long-term value for shareholders.”

Borr rigs pick up more drilling work

Regarding other rigs in Borr Drilling’s fleet, the Ran jack-up has secured a contract extension from January 2026 to March 2026 with Eni in Mexico. The Odin rig has won a contract that will run from July 2026 to November 2026 with an undisclosed operator in the United States.

The Saga jack-up is staying with Brunei Shell Petroleum in Brunei, thanks to the exercise of options that enable the assignment to last from November 2026 to April 2027. The Norve jack-up concluded operations with Marathon Oil in Equatorial Guinea in mid-November 2025 and begun operations with Vaalco Energy in Gabon in direct continuation of the previous assignment.

Borr Drilling explains that subsequent to the acquisition announcement, the Joro rig has been contracted for accommodation work offshore Germany. Upon completion of the transaction, the firm has chartered the rig to an affiliate of Noble to allow completion of this campaign.

The Grid rig finished operations with PEMEX in Mexico in mid-November 2025 and started operations with New Age in Congo in mid-January 2026. The Thor jack-up commenced operations with HLHV JOC in Vietnam in late November 2025.

The Prospector 1 rig wrapped up operations with Dana Petroleum in the Netherlands in early December 2025 and kicked off operations with ONE-Dyas in the same country in direct continuation of its previous job.