Noble pulling cold-stacked drillship duo from drilling duty for good

U.S.-headquartered offshore drilling giant Noble Corporation has outlined plans to permanently put out of drilling work two cold-stacked drillships, as part of its cost and fleet optimization quest.

These planned fleet retirements will enable Noble to divest the Pacific Meltem and Pacific Scirocco cold-stacked drillships in a way that would effectively permanently retire the rigs from drilling operations.

The 2014-upgraded Pacific Meltem drillship features a Samsung 96K design. This is a dynamically positioned dual-gradient capable drillship able to operate in moderate environments and water depths up to 3,657 meters (12,000 feet).

The 2011-upgraded Pacific Scirocco dynamically positioned drillship with Samsung 12000 double hull design has the same water depth capacity as the Pacific Meltem unit. Both rigs are cold-stacked in Las Palmas.

Robert W. Eifler, Noble’s President and Chief Executive Officer, highlighted: “Our decision to retire these non-contributing assets is based on a continuous cost-benefit evaluation of idle capacity. These retirements will be immediately cash flow accretive and result in a leaner, fitter fleet composition for Noble going forward.”

To this end, the firm is contemplating potentially scrapping the units. The divestment of these rigs will allow the U.S. rig owner to eliminate costs related to the two drillships and prioritize resources on the existing marketed fleet. 

Noble explained last year that the offshore drilling market’s forecasts indicate a softer utilization environment throughout 2025 because of white space risk continuing to impact all floater segments.

However, market improvements are expected in late 2025 and 2026. The U.S. offshore drilling giant, which is actively pursuing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cuts, has pinpointed green methanol as a promising rig fuel in the decarbonization race.