Noble Revises Drilling Schedule for Deepwater Rigs Offshore Mediterranean

Sedco Express
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Noble Energy has revised drilling plans for the three deepwater rigs it has under contract in the offshore Eastern Mediterranean. The Ensco 5006 rig (formerly the Pride North America), which has experienced multiple subsea equipment issues, will move off the Leviathan #3 well to have repairs performed to its riser system. Upon completion of that repair work, the rig is expected to drill the Dolphin prospect located on the Hanna license, offshore Israel.

The Transocean Sedco Express, currently at Tamar, is preparing to move to the Leviathan #3 location to conclude the drilling of that well. The rig is then expected to drill up to two exploration prospects before returning to Tamar to finish development drilling and perform completion work. These changes will not affect the timing of the Tamar development which remains on schedule for commissioning in late 2012. The drilling operations by the Sedco Express have gone extremely well.

The Noble Homer Ferrington rig recently drilled two development wells at Noa. The drilling activities were completed two weeks ahead of schedule and significantly below budget. The Noa completion operations are planned to commence in the first half of 2012. The Company has subsequently moved the Homer Ferrington to Block 12 offshore Cyprus, where it is drilling the Cyprus A prospect. Once finished with Cyprus A, the rig will relocate back to Israel.