Offshore drilling company Noble Corp. has announced that Julie J. Robertson will resign as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company at the next annual general meeting. She will take on the newly created role of executive Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors.
Robert W. Eifler, who first joined Noble in 2005 and currently serves as Senior Vice President, Commercial, will become President and Chief Executive Officer. Eifler will stand for election to the Board of Directors at the upcoming annual general meeting.
"The Board and I are confident that now is the right time to transition leadership responsibilities to the next generation of talent," said Robertson. "While market conditions remain challenging, I have deep conviction in the core strength of our Company, exemplified by the quality of our employees and fleet.
"Despite market conditions, we continue to benefit from high fleet utilization, advantageous fleet positioning in key regions, and strong customer relationships, and Robert has played a key role in developing these strengths. Furthermore, we are advancing our efforts to strengthen the Company's financial foundation and position Noble for sustainable value creation.
Related: ExxonMobil, Noble Corp. in Guyana Drillship Pact
"I have worked with Robert for 15 years and am confident that he possesses the leadership qualities, institutional knowledge, financial acumen and customer relationships to lead Noble forward. I will continue to work closely with him, the leadership team and the Board as Executive Chairman and look forward to further developing executive talent and fostering key stakeholder relationships."
Soon to be CEO Eifler stated, "I am honored and humbled to have been entrusted by the Board and am proud to lead our world-class employees and operations. Our strength remains in our people, and we will continue to focus on strong operational execution, to capitalize on our technologically advanced fleet, and to meet and exceed our customers' expectations. I am also committed to continuing our focus on the Company's balance sheet and liabilities. I look forward to continuing to work with Julie, the Board and leadership team over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition as we continue to execute on our initiatives to drive long-term value for all stakeholders."
Net income down
Noble Corporation on Wednesday released its 4Q results for 2019. Net loss attributable to the company for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $33 million, on total revenues of $454 million. For comparison, net loss in the fourth quarter 2018 was also $33 million, on revenue of $308,9 million.
At December 31, 2019, Noble Corporation's estimated revenue backlog totaled approximately $1.5 billion. Approximately $833 million of the backlog was associated with the floating rig fleet and $622 million with the jack-up fleet. An estimated $776 million of the revenue backlog is attributable to the year 2020.
Worth noting, the company has recently struck a deal with ExxonMobil to provide drillships for the oil major's drilling in the giant and prolific Stabroek block offshore Guyana where the U.S. major has made 16 oil discoveries in the past few years.
The 4.5 years of contract term awarded under the agreement with ExxonMobil are subject to periodically adjusted market dayrates, and are excluded from Noble's revenue backlog, but would contribute an estimated $312 million if an illustrative dayrate of $200,000 and discount, net of performance bonus, of 5% were applied to the term.