Noble drillship’s stay with Petronas prolonged offshore Suriname

Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has secured more work off the coast of Suriname for one of its seventh-generation drillships with Petronas Suriname E&P, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s energy giant Petronas.

The rig owner’s Noble Voyager drillship won a one-well contract, plus one option well, with Petronas in Suriname, which started in February 2024 with an estimated firm duration of 130 days, excluding the option period.

According to Noble, Petronas has exercised the option to extend the rig’s assignment and drill one additional well in Block 52 offshore Suriname at a day rate of $470,000. This contract extension is expected to begin in direct continuation of the current well and take around 70 days.

Blake Denton, SVP of Marketing & Contracts, commented: “This extension continues our very important collaboration with Petronas over several years on the Suriname drilling campaign. Additional work for the Noble Voyager in Block 52 shows a strong alliance between our companies and one that makes us proud.”

The Noble Voyager Samsung 96K drillship can accommodate 230 people. This rig can operate in water depths of up to 12,000 ft and its maximum drilling depth is 40,000 ft. Following its 3Q 2023 earnings, the company won new contracts for its rig fleet with a total contract value of approximately $530 million, including mobilization payments. 

Noble is working on slashing the carbon footprint of its drilling operations with many different tools, including the fleetwide rollout of a digital emission-monitoring solution that has been fitted on 29 rigs.