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Noble's (NE) Ultra-Deepwater Rig Secures Contract Extension

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Noble Corporation (NE - Free Report) recently announced a contract extension for its rig Noble Tom Madden.

The ultra-deepwater drillship will be operating offshore Guyana resources for Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) from mid-February 2019 to mid-February 2020, reflecting the extension of the initial contract that commenced in late October 2018 and will continue till mid-February 2019. The dayrate of the drillship for the extended contract period has not been disclosed. However, the estimation of Bassoe Analytics reveals that the dayrate could be $160,000.  

In October 2018, the rig Noble Tom Madden had reached the waters of Guyana to perform drilling activities in the Stabroek block, where several promising well discoveries have been made. Notably, ExxonMobil estimates Stabroek block’s gross recoverable resources at more than 4 billion oil equivalent barrels. 

Noble added that it’s warm-stacked jack-up,Noble Tom Prosser, in Australia will likely commence working for energy firm Santos by March or April of 2019. Notably, Noble Tom Prosser was in an agreement with ConocoPhillips (COP - Free Report) which ended in late November 2018.

Overall, the contracts will likely result in some cashflow for the leading offshore drilling contractor, at least in the near term.

Headquartered in London, Noble currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Meanwhile, a couple of prospective players in the energy space that are worth considering are Unit Corporation and Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. . Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.    

Bonanza will likely post earnings growth of 57.3% through 2019.

Unit Corp surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, the average positive earnings surprise being 21.3%.

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