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Noble anticipates step-up in floater rig demand as deepwater oil & gas plays become ‘critical’ to global energy security

U.S. offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation is expecting a ramp-up in drilling demand for the floater fleet from late 2025 and 2026, which will spur further rig reactivations, as it perceives the oil and gas production from deepwater reservoirs as an important factor in the global security of energy supply.

Trouble Deepens for North Sea Oil and Gas

North Sea oil and gas operators are not just facing the prospect of higher windfall taxes, they are now also finding it more difficult to get loans from UK banks.
The windfall profit tax was imposed on the energy industry in 2022 amid record profits resulting from the supply uncertainty in oil and gas following the incursion of Russian troops into Ukraine.
According to data from Norwegian investment bank SpareBank 1 Markets, reserve-based lending to oil and gas operators in the UK’s North Sea had fallen by some 40-50% since the introduction of the windfall profit tax.