Noble Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Noble Corporation PLC first quarter 2020 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during that time, you'll need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Craig Muirhead, VP Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

Thanks Denise and welcome everyone to Noble Corporation's first quarter 2020 earnings conference call. We appreciate your interest in the company. You can find a copy of Noble's earnings report issued last evening along with the supporting statements and schedules on our website at www.noblecorp.com. Before I turn the call over to Julie Robertson, I'd like to remind everyone that we may make statements about our operations, opportunities, plans, operational or financial performance, The Drilling Business are other matters that are not historical fact and are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are posted on our website, discuss the risks and uncertainties in our business and industry and the various factors that could keep outcomes of any forward-looking statements from being realized, including the price of oil and gas, customer demand, operational and other risks. Our actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and Noble does not assume any obligation to update these statements. Also note, we are referencing non-GAAP financial measures in our call today. You will find the required supplemental disclosure for these measures, including the most directly comparable GAAP measure and an associated reconciliation on our website. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Julie Robertson, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive of Noble.

Thank you, Craig, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to a review of Noble Corporation's first quarter 2020 results. I hope you are all healthy and safely managing through this extraordinary time. As always, we appreciate your participation on today's call. For those of you paying attention, you will have heard Craig Muirhead introducing the call today. In addition to Craig's role as Vice President and Treasurer, he has now assumed the responsibility for the IR function. Craig, thank you for stepping up and taking on this additional role, and we know you will do as great of a job in this role as you have as Treasurer. And we are also joined this morning by Richard Barker, who on March 30th began his new role as the company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I've had the privilege of working with Richard at various times while he served in an investment banking capacity, specializing in oilfield services and equipment industry. Besides his in-depth familiarity with Noble, Richard brings to the CFO role a strong knowledge of our industry and the capital markets. We are delighted to have Richard on our team and I look forward to his valuable contributions. Our first quarter financial performance, when adjusted for special items, was highlighted by lower than expected contract drilling service costs and hire Eva Dahl. The favorable results were in spite of the challenges created by the rapid deterioration in the oil and gas market and the COVID-19 pandemic. And when addressing the first quarter achievements, one we are all proud of is the manner in which our company has responded to the current environment. I want to recognize our COVID-19 response team who recognized as early as January 5th the potential gravity of the coronavirus situation and began working to lead our organization through a most complex landscape characterized by ever-changing risk and uncertainty. Through their leadership, our company has worked together with a common purpose, to maintain the health and safety of our employees and operating partners by mitigating the transmission of this virus and any adverse impact to our organization. Additionally, I am particularly proud of our global offshore personnel, many of whom have worked well over their hitches for extended periods of time and to their families for the support they have provided. Although the challenging environment remains, I want to thank all of our employees for their successful efforts to date. I am extremely proud of your commitment and dedication and the manner in which you have maneuvered through this crisis. Your attitude and approach epitomizes the character which resonates throughout the Noble organization. As you all know, at our Annual General Meeting on May 21st, Robert Eifler will be assuming the role of President and Chief Executive Officer of Noble Corporation. Again, I want to extend my congratulations to Robert, and in my simultaneous move to the role of Executive Chairman, I will remain his biggest supporter and advocate as we, together with our excellent leadership team, continue to lead this 99-year-old company through these unprecedented times and into our second century of successful operations. With that, I will turn the call over to Robert.