Blake Denton, senior vice-president of marketing and contracts at Noble, talks to The Energy Year about tightening offshore drilling demand in South America and West Africa and the company’s strategic optimisation after major M&A deals.
Noble is an offshore drilling contractor specialising in ultra-deepwater and high-specification jackup projects.
- The offshore drilling market is expected to tighten from H2 2027. Rising long-term energy demand and the lengthy offshore investment cycle are expected to support increasing drilling activity.
- Growth is becoming more geographically concentrated. Guyana and Suriname remain standout markets, Brazil offers through-cycle stability and West Africa is emerging as a major growth opportunity.
- FPSO construction is a key indicator of future drilling demand. Shipyard activity and FPSO development schedules provide early visibility into the wells that will need to be drilled before production begins.
How would you describe the global offshore drilling market today, and where do you see the next phase of growth coming from?
The market is poised for continued improvement. When we look at global energy demand into the early 2030s, we expect a need for a significant number of offshore barrels. Because offshore is a long-cycle business, the investment decisions being made today support activity growth well into the future. We expect drilling activity to continue increasing in support of these offshore barrels, particularly into H2 2027 and beyond, with the market anticipated to begin tightening for the types of assets we operate.
Guyana and Suriname have been two of the most prolific basins in recent years and have been one of the key growth drivers for Noble. We currently have six assets contracted there and have drilled about 75% of the wells in the basin since the play opened. South America has always been an important offshore region, with Brazil providing stability through the cycle, but Guyana and Suriname have become the standout growth story.
Drilling activity is closely linked to FPSO developments. Before resources can be produced through an FPSO, the wells have to be drilled, and we closely monitor shipyards and FPSO construction activity as a leading indicator of future drilling demand. Looking ahead, we predict North America remaining stable, South America continuing to grow selectively, and West Africa emerging as one of the strongest growth opportunities.
Noble has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. What changed following the merger with Maersk Drilling and the acquisition of Diamond Offshore Drilling?
We are a completely different company today. Our strategy was to create a differentiated service offering built around performance, operational risk management and customer experience.
Scale mattered because it allowed us to build a stronger position in the high-specification segment of the market. Through the Maersk Drilling merger and the Diamond Offshore Drilling acquisition, we expanded our fleet and strengthened our organisational capabilities at the same time.
Alongside assets, we invested heavily in supporting infrastructure. We built a real-time operating centre, enhanced training facilities and established a dedicated performance group. This enables us to learn lessons from any rig in the fleet and rapidly deploy those insights across the organisation. The result is a business that is designed to perform consistently, manage risk effectively and deliver a higher-quality customer experience.
Today, our strategy encompasses a focus on strategic optimisation – using the capabilities, assets and scale we have built to create greater value for customers, investors and employees across the cycle.
Technology and digitalisation are becoming increasingly important offshore. How are these tools changing the way Noble operates?
The impact is being felt across the entire business. The way we collect, manage and analyse data today represents a step change compared to most of our history. One of the important decisions we made as part of our strategic evolution was to own our own performance data rather than relying on third parties. We harvest the data with sensors, analyse it internally and use it to improve operations across the fleet.
One example is condition-based maintenance. By analysing equipment performance across our fleet of 29 units, we can predict certain failures before they occur and optimise maintenance schedules. We are also applying predictive analytics to safety. By identifying situations where risk barriers have weakened, we can intervene before an incident takes place.
Automation is another major area of progress. Many routine drilling operations are now automated across the majority of our fleet. Drilling and tripping operations can be performed with greater consistency and efficiency through automated systems.
Our third-party collaborations are central to this process. We work closely with OEMs, including Kongsberg and NOV. Our automation journey has been alongside NOV, and we operate more NOV-automated rigs than any other drilling contractor. We manage the administrative, performance and analytical aspects internally, while collaborating with equipment specialists on the technologies embedded directly into the systems themselves.
What are Noble’s priorities for the years ahead?
Our priorities are increasingly centred on optimisation. We want to generate free cashflow and return nearly all of it to shareholders while maintaining a business capable of delivering through-cycle returns. A backlog of USD 7.5 billion, with visibility extending through 2031, provides a strong foundation for that strategy.
We also see meaningful opportunities in CCS. The technology has moved beyond the pilot phase, and we already have two jack-ups currently participating in CCS projects in the North Sea. We believe the market could become significant, although further policy development will be needed to improve project economics.
Talent development is equally important. We run internships, in-house leadership programmes and extensive training initiatives. Virtual reality has become a valuable tool, allowing employees around the world to practise critical operational tasks while receiving real-time feedback. In emerging markets such as Guyana and Suriname, we also invest in local talent development, supporting cadets through education and creating opportunities to join our teams.