Noble wraps up Diamond Offshore acquisition

Offshore drilling giant Noble Corporation has completed the acquisition of US offshore rig owner Diamond Drilling, after getting the final permit earlier this week.

Noble said that the transaction, valued at around $2.1bn, enhances its position as a leading offshore driller, creating the largest fleet of 7th-generation dual-BOP drillships in the industry.

Through this acquisition, Noble will increase its rig fleet from 31 to 41 owned plus the Vela drillship which Diamond Offshore is managing. Of the 41, 28 will be semisubs and drillships while 13 will be jackups.

The combined backlog is around $6.7bn with $2.1bn in backlog coming from Diamond. This includes an average backlog on Diamond’s four 7th-generation drillships of approximately two years at $460,000 daily.

Noble has revised its fleet status report reflecting the addition of the Diamond rigs and other updates, mainly the addition of 4.8 rig years of backlog awarded under the commercial enabling agreement with ExxonMobil for four drillships operating in Guyana – Noble Tom Madden, Noble Sam Croft, Noble Don Taylor, and Noble Bob Douglas.

Following the acquisition of Diamond, the company’s board of directors has appointed Patrice Douglas from the Diamond board of directors to serve as a new director of Noble.

“On behalf of Noble’s board of directors and employees, I would like to welcome the Diamond organisation onboard and look forward to our exciting journey ahead as a combined team,” said Robert W. Eifler, president and CEO of Noble.

“This combination marks a crucial next step in Noble’s 7G deepwater leadership strategy. We are excited to bring Diamond’s exceptional team and fleet onto the Noble platform and [I would also] like to welcome Patrice Douglas, who was been nominated to join Noble’s board of directors from the Diamond board,” added Charles M. Sledge, Noble’s chairman.