Noble Corp
NE
Energy
3
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Noble Corporation is an offshore drilling contractor whose entire business model is providing drilling services to oil and gas exploration and production companies. The company owns and operates a fleet of 15 offshore drilling rigs, including drillships and semi-submersibles, which are deployed globally to extract fossil fuels.
The company has a documented history of environmental and regulatory violations related to its operations. In December 2014, its subsidiary Noble Drilling (U.S.) LLC was charged with environmental and maritime crimes for knowingly failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book and making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard. In August 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency reached a $1 million settlement with Noble Energy (now part of Chevron, but historically linked to Noble's operations) for violations including an unauthorized 2014 discharge of oil into the Poudre River. More recently, in June 2025, a state regulatory agency issued a Notice of Alleged Violation to Noble citing six rule violations. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also charged Noble with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Noble Corp, an offshore drilling contractor, was convicted in 2014 of multiple felony environmental crimes related to its operations in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska. The company’s subsidiary, Noble Drilling (U.S.) LLC, pleaded guilty to eight counts, including knowingly failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The violations involved the illegal discharge of contaminated waste from its drill ship, the *Noble Discoverer*. Under the plea agreement, Noble paid $8.2 million in fines and $4 million in community service payments. In a separate 2014 case, the company was convicted on five additional counts of knowingly violating pollution prevention laws.
Further environmental compliance failures are documented. In 2020, Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry charged that Noble Energy, a former subsidiary, was violating law by failing to connect a system to continuously monitor pollutant emissions from a production platform in the Mediterranean Sea. This pattern of operational negligence and criminal conviction for pollution offenses demonstrates documented environmental damage from the company’s drilling activities.
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Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
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