Company: NE-WTA
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001628280-25-006184
Chunk: 3

Company: Noble Corp plc
Filing Date: 2025-02-19
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 3
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 as a result, take on more risk. In such cases where we agree, we generally limit the exposure with a monetary cap and other restrictions.

During periods of depressed market conditions, our customers may attempt to renegotiate or repudiate their contracts with us although we seek to enforce our rights under our contracts. The renegotiation may include changes to key contract terms, such as pricing, termination, and risk allocation.

For a discussion of our backlog of commitments for contract drilling services, please read Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations— Contract Drilling Services Backlog.”

Drilling Fleet

Noble is a leading offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. Noble owns and operates one of the most modern, versatile, and technically advanced fleets of mobile offshore drilling units in the offshore drilling industry. Noble provides, through its subsidiaries, contract drilling services with a fleet of 40 offshore drilling units, consisting of 27 floaters and 13 jackups at the date of this report, focused largely on ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling opportunities in both established and emerging regions worldwide. Each type of drilling rig is described further below. Several factors determine the type of unit most suitable for a particular job, the most significant of which include the water depth and the environment of the intended drilling location, whether the drilling is being done over a platform or other structure, and the intended well depth. At December 31, 2024, our fleet was operating in Africa, Far East Asia, the Middle East, the North Sea, Oceania, South America, and the US Gulf. Our fleet consists of the following types of mobile offshore drilling units:

Floaters. A drillship is a type of floating drilling unit that is based on the ship-based hull of the vessel and equipped with modern drilling equipment that gives it the capability of easily transitioning from various worldwide locations and carrying high capacities of equipment while being able to drill ultra-deepwater oil and gas wells in up to 12,000 feet of water. Drillships can stay directly over the drilling location without anchors in open seas using a dynamic positioning system 

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(“DPS”), which coordinates position references from satellite signals and acoustic seabed transponders with the drillship's six to eight thrusters to keep the ship directly over the well that is being drilled. Drillships are selected to drill oil and gas wells for programs that require a high level of simultaneous operations, where drilling loads are expected to be high, or where