Noble Corporation

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Noble Corp's first quarter 2026 earnings call. Please note that this call is being recorded. After the speaker's prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during that time, please press star and then one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. I would now like to hand the call over to Ian McPherson, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may now go ahead, Ian.

Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone to Noble Corporation's first quarter 2026 earnings call. You can find a copy of our earnings report along with the supporting statements and schedules on our website at noblecorp.com. We will reference an earnings presentation that's posted in the investor relations page of our website as well. Today's call will feature prepared remarks from our president and CEO, Robert Eifler, as well as our CFO, Richard Barker. We also have with us Blake Denton, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Contracts, and Joey Kawaja, Senior Vice President of Operations. During the course of this call, we may make certain forward-looking statements regarding various matters related to our business and companies that are not historical facts. Such statements are based upon current expectations and assumptions of management and are therefore subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Many factors can cause actual results to 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 on the call today. You can find the required supplemental disclosure for these measures, including the most directly comparable GAAP measure and an associated reconciliation in our earnings report issued yesterday and filed with the SEC. Now, I'll turn the call over to Robert Eifler, President and CEO of Noble.

Thanks, Ian. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll open today's call with a brief summary of our Q1 highlights and recent contract awards, followed by an update on the market. Richard will then cover the financials before I wrap up with closing remarks and move to Q&A. During the first quarter, we earned adjusted EBITDA of $277 million and generated free cash flow of $169 million. We again distributed our 50 cent quarterly dividend, and yesterday our board declared a 50 cent per share dividend for the second quarter, maintaining our consistent and highly differentiated return of cash strategy. Overall, it was a solid start to the year, and I'd like to thank our outstanding men and women of Noble around the world for your fantastic teamwork in helping us to realize our first choice offshore performance standards. While it's an understatement to say that energy markets have seen extreme volatility over the past couple of months since the outset of the Iran conflict, we are fortunate to have experienced limited operational disruption, confined to just one jackup in the Middle East, the McO'Brien, which we sold in January but have continued to operate under a bare-boat agreement. All of our crew and related personnel were safely evacuated from the rig during the early days of the conflict. and Richard will expand on the rig's current status. Outside of the war-impacted region in the Middle East, commercial momentum throughout the offshore drilling market remains brisk, irrespective, in many ways, of the recent oil price surge. However, the recent reawakening of energy security concerns around the world and the corresponding move higher in the oil futures strip are clearly supportive of the already steadily improving demand trends evident in the deep water and harsh environment offshore markets where we operate. Over the past three months, we've secured new contract awards totaling approximately $565 million. First, the Noble Courage received an extension with Petrobras of slightly more than three years, which will keep that rig committed in Brazil through the end of 2030. This extension represents net incremental backlog of $339 million, with the current day rate reduced from $290,000 to $280,000 from April 1st, 2026 through late 2027, followed by the extension of slightly over three years at just over $309,000 per day. Next, I'm pleased to announce that the Noble Deliverer has been awarded a five-well contract from Woodside in Australia. which will support that rig's reactivation. This contract is valued at $121 million, based on an estimated 300 days of firm scope, excluding options, and also does not include revenue for additional services or potential rig upgrades. In Guyana, the novel developer has been awarded a one-well contract with ExxonMobil at $375,000 per day, which is scheduled to slot in after the rig's current program. right around year end. Next, the Noble Black Rhino has recently commenced an exercised option well for Beacon in the U.S. Gulf with an estimated duration of 100 days. In Ghana, the Noble Venturer has been awarded a one-well contract with Planet One in Ghana at a day rate of $430,000, expected to commence late this year with estimated duration of approximately 45 days with two unpriced options. And finally, in Southeast Asia, the noble Viking has received an additional one well contract in Malaysia, which is expected to extend the rig through October this year. With these awards, our current backlog stands at $7.5 billion. Now I'll share a few observations on recent developments in the market. In short, all measurable and anecdotal indicators of deepwater rig demand are flashing green. And I would submit that this is not a reflection of $100 oil because most of what we're seeing in the market today has been in motion for months or longer. But of course, recent events absolutely have elevated energy security priorities around the world. And improved upstream cash flows will only serve to enhance an already strong and expanding demand picture and deep water exploration thesis. the volume of deepwater contract fixtures has spiked in the early part of this year. Partially, but not entirely, due to the execution of Petrobras' wide-reaching contract extensions. The first quarter saw 32 rig years of UDW fixtures, which was roughly double the average quarterly run rate of last year. And with conclusion of Petrobras' extensions in April, this month alone has already had more than 40 additional UDW rig years fixed. bringing year-to-date backlog additions significantly above the entirety of last year's contracting volumes for the full year. Petrobras has comprised over half of 2026 year-to-date deepwater rig years fixed, and non-Petrobras contracting activity has also continued at a healthy level. And notably, despite this recent surge in contract fixtures, the pipeline of open demand in the form of tenders and pre-tenders has actually continued to expand rather than deplete. Last quarter, we observed slightly over 100 rig years of open floater demand, which was a 33% year-on-year increase. This figure has now eclipsed 110 rig years. All this tendering activity is developing alongside an increasingly tightening supply-demand balance. Total UDW contracted utilization is currently 105 rigs, or 95% of marketed supply. This is approaching recent peak contracted demand levels of two years ago, albeit with markedly different directional momentum, especially considering the renewed length of backlog across the South America region juxtaposed against open demand throughout the rest of the world that's now more than 55% higher compared to the previous high watermark two years ago. The contracted udw account of 105 includes 14 rigs of future contracts that aren't yet working today, six of which happened to be novel rigs. We have been anticipating the convergence of future contracted utilization in present utilization and a critical factor that could substantially eliminate industry white space and result in a comprehensively tight market. This convergence becomes increasingly tangible as these 14 future contracted assets ramp up over the next six to 12 months with average contract durations of two years per rig. Taken together, all these market dynamics are resulting in upward day rate pressure. Therefore, we believe it is likely that we will begin to see floater rates move higher as we move through the rest of this year. So overall, with the continuing positive development of our backlog, as well as the state of the drilling market more broadly, we're even more optimistic about the years ahead than we were last quarter. Now, I'll pass the call over to Richard for the financial review.