ConocoPhillips awards Noble jackup rig a North Sea P&A contract

ConocoPhillips has awarded Noble Interceptor a 670-day P&A campaign in the Greater Ekofisk Area, adding to a string of contract awards and extensions outlined in Noble's latest fleet status report.
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Aug. 14, 2026
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Why this news matters:

  • The 670-day ConocoPhillips award strengthens Noble's position in the North Sea P&A market, where operators are expected to spend billions of dollars on well decommissioning and late-life asset management in the coming years.

  • Combined with the contract awards and extensions highlighted in Noble's latest fleet status report, the deal provides additional visibility into fleet utilization and future offshore drilling demand across multiple regions.

Courtesy Noble Corp.
Noble Interceptor jackup rig pictured dockside

Noble Interceptor, pictured dockside, has secured a 670-day contract with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS for plug-and-abandonment work in the Greater Ekofisk Area offshore Norway.

Noble has announced a subsequent contract award from ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS for the ultra-harsh-environment jackup Noble Interceptor.

Courtesy Noble Corporation LinkedIn
crew member monitors drilling operations from the control cabin aboard a Noble offshore rig

A crew member monitors drilling operations from the control cabin aboard a Noble offshore rig.

The contract covers plug-and-abandonment wells in the Greater Ekofisk Area offshore Norway, is expected to begin in third-quarter 2027, and has an estimated duration of 670 days.

Noble said the award establishes a new working relationship with ConocoPhillips on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The company also recently released its Fleet Status Report, which highlights a series of contract awards and extensions spanning the US Gulf, North Sea, Suriname, Brunei and Colombia, further strengthening the driller’s forward backlog.

Noble also highlighted new work for several drillships and jackups, including contracts with Shell, TotalEnergies, Petrobras, DNO Norge and other operators.

Some of the key fleet status updates include:

  • Noble Voyager and a yet-to-be-delivered 7th generation drillship remain scheduled for separate four-year contracts with Shell in the US Gulf, each carrying a base contract value of about $606 million, with additional performance incentive opportunities;

  • Noble Developer and another 7th generation drillship are set for 16-well programs offshore Suriname with TotalEnergies, representing a combined firm revenue value of about $753 million, with additional performance-based upside;

  • Noble Discoverer received a 390-day extension from Petrobras in Colombia, extending operations into 2026;

  • Noble Viking secured additional work from Shell Brunei Petroleum; 

  • Noble Regina Allen was awarded a short-term contract offshore Suriname; and

  • Noble Intrepid secured a one-well assignment with DNO Norge AS in Norway. 

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This piece was created with the help of generative AI tools and edited by our content team for clarity and accuracy.

About the Author

Ariana Hurtado
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Ariana Hurtado

Editor-in-Chief

With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective. 

Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer. 

Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.

She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.

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