Saudi Aramco suspends Noble Scott Marks jack-up rig

Oil giant Saudi Aramco has suspended the contract for one of Noble Corporation’s offshore drilling rigs.

Noble Corp. said in its financial report on Wednesday that the contract for the Noble Scott Marks jack-up rig, located off Saudi Arabia, would be suspended at the request of the client.

The rig is currently under contract with Saudi Aramco which previously requested that Noble Corp. reduces the rig’s dayrate from $159,000.

At the time, the Saudi company asked for the dayrates of four jack-up rigs to be reduced – Noble Scott Marks, Noble Roger Lewis, Noble Joe Knight, and Noble Johnny Whitstine – with the request being taken ‘under review’ by Noble.

The offshore drilling contractor added that Saudi Aramco suspended the rig for a period of up to 365 days, with the suspension starting in the first half of May following the conclusion of the well in progress.

It is worth noting that the company did not provide any information regarding the previous dayrate reduction request.

Noble stated that during the suspension period, no dayrate would be paid. However, the company has the right to market the rig in pursuit of other work opportunities in the region. Regardless of the suspension, the rig is still under contract with Saudi Aramco until late October 2022.

Noble reported a net loss in its financial report of $1.1 billion on total revenues of $281 million. The first quarter 2020 result included net after-tax unfavourable items totalling $977 million – including a pre-tax non-cash charge totalling $1.1 billion.

These related to the impairment of the semi-submersible rigs Noble Danny Adkins and Noble Jim Day, the drillships Noble Bully I and Noble Bully II, and certain capital spares.