Company: NE-WTA
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-006184
Chunk: 58

Company: Noble Corp plc
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 58
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 including their payment obligations, and we are unable to secure new contracts on a timely basis on substantially similar terms or if we elect to renegotiate our drilling contracts and accept terms that are less favorable to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Drilling contracts with national oil companies may expose us to greater risks than we normally assume in drilling contracts with non-governmental customers.

Contracts with national oil companies are often non-negotiable and may expose us to greater commercial, political, and operational risks than we assume in other contracts, such as exposure to materially greater environmental liability and other claims for damages (including consequential damages) and personal injury related to our operations, or the risk that the contract may be terminated by our customer without cause on short-term notice, contractually or by governmental action, under certain conditions that may not provide us an early termination payment, collection risks, and political risks. In 

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addition, our ability to resolve disputes or enforce contractual provisions may be negatively impacted under these contracts. We can provide no assurance that the increased risk exposure will not have an adverse impact on our future operations or that we will not increase the number of rigs contracted to national oil companies with additional contractual risks.

Our current backlog of contract drilling revenue may not be ultimately realized.

Generally, contract backlog only includes future revenues under signed drilling contracts. We may not be able to perform under these contracts as a result of operational or other breaches or due to events beyond our control, and we may not ultimately execute a definitive agreement in cases where one does not currently exist. Moreover, we can provide no assurance that our customers will be able to or willing to fulfill their contractual commitments to us or that they will not seek to renegotiate or repudiate their contracts or, for certain customers, reallocate term among contracted rigs, especially during an industry downturn. The terms of some of our drilling contracts permit the customer to terminate the contract after specified notice periods by tendering contractually specified termination amounts or, in certain cases, without any payment. In estimating backlog, we make certain assumptions about applicable dayrates under our longer-term contracts which have dayrate adjustment mechanisms (like certain of our contracts with ExxonMobil, AkerBP, Tullow, and Petrobras). In addition, from time to time, we may report anticipated commitments under letters of intent or awards for which definitive agreements have not yet been, but are expected to be, signed. We cannot assure you that actual results will mirror these assumptions. Our