![COLUMN | The Twelve Days of Christmas 2025: Days 4 to 6 – Six Noble rigs-a-selling, five million tons of Sunrise LNG and a four per cent stock rise for TotalEnergies (part two of two) [Offshore Accounts]](http://media.assettype.com/bairdmaritime%2F2025-12-16%2Foenxyyip%2FUntitled.jpeg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Earlier in the week, we looked at TotalEnergies and Galp’s Namibian field swap, and we studied the brutal history of Timor-Leste, long occupied by Indonesia, and whose Greater Sunrise gas fields have long been coveted by Australia, but never developed in the fifty years since their discovery.
Greater Sunrise is estimated to hold five trillion cubic feet (140 billion cubic metres) of gas and over 200 million barrels of condensate. Now, field operator Woodside has agreed that the gas will be piped to a newbuild LNG plant in Timor-Leste, producing five million tons of LNG per year in the 2030s, if when and it finally gets built.
Under a cooperation agreement signed last month, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Timor-Leste and Woodside have agreed to conduct commercial and technical studies to finalise the investment case for the new, greenfield LNG plant in Timor-Leste. The two also agreed to work on plans for a domestic gas facility to provide power to the country, where many rely on diesel generators, and a helium extraction plant.
At the same time, Woodside and the governments of Timor-Leste and Australia will negotiate the fiscal, regulatory, and legal frameworks for the development of Greater Sunrise. Subject to concept selection and final investment decision approval, Woodside and Timor-Leste are targeting first LNG as early as 2032-2035,
“The LNG project presents the best economic, social, and strategic benefits for the people of Timor-Leste, and we are committed to working constructively with Woodside, the Greater Sunrise joint venture and other parties to take the project forward and to make our vision for Greater Sunrise a reality,” Timor-Leste Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Francisco da Costa Monteiro was quoted in the state news agency.
The government press release said that the cooperation agreement, “marks a significant milestone in the longstanding efforts by Timor-Leste and itself to unlock the value of the Greater Sunrise gas fields and reflects a renewed spirit of good-faith collaboration and commitment among the parties.”
Greater Sunrise operator Woodside holds a 33.44 per cent interest, Timor Gap has 56.56 per cent, and the potential buyer of the LNG, Japan’s Osaka Gas, holds 10 per cent.
The people of Timor-Leste deserve a better future, and the proposed LNG project could provide the jobs, tax revenues, and electricity that the country sorely needs. Timor-Leste was treated abominably by Indonesia from 1975 to when it gained its independence, and we believe that it is in the interest of Australia to have a prosperous and stable Timor-Leste to its north.
Let’s hope that Woodside and Dili can finally deliver on the LNG project, which would truly be a Christmas miracle.
Last week, drilling rig owner Noble Corporation announced that it had signed definitive agreements to sell six jackups. Five rigs – Noble Tom Prosser, Noble Mick O'Brien, Noble Regina Allen, Noble Resolute and Noble Resilient – will go to Borr Drilling, the heavily indebted, pureplay jackup owner, for US$360 million, whilst Noble Resolve will be sold to Ocean Oilfield Drilling of the UAE for US$64 million in cash.
Upon closing of these transactions, Noble will be a pureplay deepwater and ultra-harsh environment jackup operator. This is a similar transition to the one Transocean and Seadrill have already made, selling their jackups to focus on harsh environment and deepwater only. Stena Drilling and Odfjell also remain deepwater and harsh environment floater players only. Noble retains five harsh environment units in the North Sea, however, after the sale of these six jackups.
Only Valaris and Saipem remain mixed fleet operators amongst the international rig owners now, in a market where ADES of Saudi Arabia recently acquired Shelf Drilling to become the undisputed jackup king, whilst Gulf Drilling of Qatar and ADNOC Drilling of the UAE have also increased their jackup-only fleets.
Firstly, it tells us that Borr intends to maintain its high level of debt and live dangerously for a few more years. Five years ago, almost to the day, Borr was nearly bust (I love my “Christmas Turkey” headline in that piece).
Today, Borr has a market capitalisation of over US$1 billion, but has had multiple equity raisings over the period. Whilst the other major drillers have embarked on share buybacks and dividends, Borr has had to raise funds from its shareholders over and over, because it remains heavily indebted.
Borr still had over US$1.9 billion of debt at the end of September. Now it is taking on more debt to buy the Noble quintet.
The deal with Noble expands Borr’s fleet from 24 to 29 jackups and strengthens its position as one of the youngest premium jackup operators globally. However, the purchase of the five Noble rigs will be financed through US$150 million in additional debt, priced at an eye-watering 10.375 per cent coupon on new senior secured notes due repayment in 2030.
Borr is so cash-strapped that it is also relying on US$150 million in a seller's credit granted by Noble, which is due 2032, and where the coupon rate is not mentioned by either party of which I am aware (I guess double digits).
There is also, inevitably, another US$85 million equity raise, with two of the newly purchased rigs placed in the bond's restricted group and three financed on a non-recourse basis. Noble intends to operate two of the rigs – Noble Resilient with Eni Netherlands and Noble Mick O'Brien with Qatargas in Qatar – under bareboat charters with Borr for one year from signing of the definitive agreement, when their current contracts expire.
If the market remains buoyant, Borr will emerge from this transaction stronger and with a more diversified global footprint (think less exposure to the basket case that is Mexico).
Noble gets cash, which it might use to pick off one of the weak single floating rig owners we reviewed last week, or Seadrill. Noble has been the master consolidator of the market, buying Pacific Drilling, Maersk Drilling, and Diamond Offshore between 2021 and 2024.
The agreement with Ocean Oilfield Drilling anticipates the sale of Noble Resolve and closing is expected in Q2 2026, upon conclusion of the rig’s current contract in Spain on a plug and abandon project off Tarragona.
I would love to write an extended brief on who exactly Ocean Oilfield Drilling is, but at the time of writing, the company’s website is down, which is never a good sign.
It appears that Ocean Oilfield Drilling operates two extremely aged jackups in the Arabian Gulf: the 1979-built Aras Driller and the 1982-built B152, which was bought from Borr Drilling in April 2020.
The company also owns at least one offshore supply vessel (as per its Linkedin posts), sponsors various golf tournaments in the UAE, and hands out kitchen equipment and cakes to its drilling teams and yard staff on a regular basis, it seems. Its CEO is Sameer Mohammed, who is the son of the late founder of the company, Mr M. I. Mohamed, I believe.
Mr Mohamed senior began his career in 1975 as a welder on a drilling rig with Penrod Drilling. From those humble beginnings, he rose to become the owner of several shipyards, offshore rigs, HWO snubbing units, as well as vessels and barges in the kind of classic rags-to-riches story that the vibrant marine sector in the UAE makes possible.
At least his son is paying Noble in full in cash, unlike Borr.
Happy Christmas to the lucky rig buyers, and well done to Noble on a profitable sale.
In the ancient song, on the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me seven swans a-swimming. Join us next week to see which offshore players are swimming and which are sinking, as we continue the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Background Reading
Read here for parts one, two, three and four of last year's Twelve Days of Christmas series, where we covered John Fredriksen’s Twelve newbuilds a-building, eleven million dollars of rigs a-selling, ten per cent of Ørsted a-buying, nine per cent in Valaris and DOF, eight Seacor anchor handlers a-selling, seven hundred grand a-fining, Six Keppel jackups a-swapping, five W2W newbuilds, four ENI blocks, three dry wells in Bulgaria, two Namibian jailbirds, and a Scottish ferry in a pear tree.
Our 2020 Twelve Days of Christmas (here and here) featured some of the bleak midwinter of the industry downturn, covering Cairn Energy (as was), Esvagt, Vantage Drilling, Shearwater, Swire Pacific Offshore and Seacor, followed by the oil price, floating wind, ammonia fuel cells, Myanmar, Bourbon and Standard Drilling (the predecessor to SD Standard ETC).
Our 2021 Twelve Days of Christmas (here, here, and here) featured Cairn Energy becoming Capricorn Energy, Vantage Drilling, North Star and Vard, Shearwater and Shell, Windcat Workboats, Swire Pacific Offshore, ammonia fuel cells, the oil price, Myanmar, Floating Wind, Bourbon's revival and Standard Drilling.
By Christmas 2022, the industry was firing on all cylinders and our Twelve Days of Christmas (here, here, here, and here) featured twelve floaters a-drilling, as Seadrill bought Aquadrill, eleven per cent of DOF's shareholders a-revolting, ten wind turbine installation vessels a-building, nine million tonnes of LNG a year maybe a-sailing from Indonesia, eight billion cubic feet of gas a day possibly a-flowing there, seven Indonesian Presidents completely a-sleeping (on the job), six gratuitously unnecessary lift-boat accidents, five stranded deepwater rigs, four subsea vessel deals, three LNG projects moving forward in Asia and East Africa, two hydrogen-powered windfarm support vessels for the Saverys family, and one arrest warrant in a pear tree for "unlucky" Angolan heiress Isabel dos Santos.
For the Twelve Days of Christmas 2023, we covered the Scottish ferry fiasco (again), two Windcat Offshore newbuilding orders, and three Azerbaijani journalists detained (here). Our second week looked at six money laundering countries, five shipping magnates pontificating on future fuels, and four drilling assets for sale (by Seadrill). Then, we had seven PSVs bought by Evangelos Marinakis, eight billion tons of coal a-burning, and nine Vroon vessels sold to CBED, Golden Energy, Rederij Groen and Horizon Offshore here.
We closed with Hercules Supply’s twelve labours, eleven Hornbeck ships working internationally and ten anchor handlers available prompt in Aberdeen, plus a bonus thirteenth day of Christmas for Valaris’ purchase of the drillships Valaris DS-13 and Valaris DS-14 from Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering) in Korea for the princely sum of US$337 million.
