BP Lines Up Noble Rig for North Sea CCS Drilling Job

Noble Innovator jack-up rig (Credit: Noble Corporation)

BP has hired Noble Corporation’s Noble Innovator jack-up rig for a drilling job related to carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in the North Sea.

Under the contract, Noble Innovator will drill six firm wells for the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) project in the North Sea.

BP provides operatorship services to NEP, with project partners Equinor and TotalEnergies. The contract is expected to start in the third quarter of 2026.

It also contains an option for two additional wells, and is in direct continuation of Noble’s current contract with BP.

To remind, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) issued its first carbon storage permit to NEP for the CCS project off the coast of Teeside in December 2024. The partners also reached a financial investment close for the execution of the project.

• Permits and Funding in Place for UK’s First Offshore CCS Project

The project has the potential to store up to 100 million tonnes of CO2. The first CO2 injection could come as early as 2027, according to NSTA, with a permitted injection rate of 4 million tonnes per year.

Averaged over a duration of 25 years, this could reach a total of 100 million tonnes, equivalent to taking 58.8 million cars off the road for a year.

 "Supporting the Northern Endurance Partnership advances our role in delivering the well infrastructure behind the UK’s net-zero ambitions. This award reinforces our leadership in offshore carbon storage, and we value the continued trust that bp places in our crews,” said Blake Denton, SVP Marketing and Contracts at Noble Corporation.