Noble Corporation Board Schedules Previously Approved Dividend Payment To Shareholders

ZUG, Switzerland, Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Noble Corporation (NYSE: NE) today reported that the Company's Board has set the record and payment dates for the third installment of a payment to shareholders in the form of a dividend funded from the Company's capital contribution reserve.  This installment payment will be in the amount of USD $0.13 per share.  The ex-dividend date for this payment is expected to be February 7, 2013, with a record date of February 11, 2013 and a payment date of February 21, 2013.  

An aggregate dividend in the amount of USD $0.52 per share, to be paid in four quarterly installments of USD $0.13 per share, was previously approved by shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting on April 27, 2012. This payment is the third of these installments, with the final installment expected to be paid in May 2013.  We expect that this dividend will be treated as a qualified dividend for purposes of U.S. taxes.

About Noble CorporationNoble is a leading offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. Noble performs, through its subsidiaries, contract drilling services with a fleet of 79 offshore drilling units (including five ultra-deepwater drillships and six high-specification jackup drilling rigs currently under construction), located worldwide, including in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, Mexico, Brazil, the North Sea, the Mediterranean, West Africa, the Middle East, India and Australia. Noble's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NE." Additional information on Noble Corporation is available on the Company's Web site at http://www.noblecorp.com.

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" about the business, financial performance and prospects of the Company. Statements about the Company's or management's plans, intentions, expectations, beliefs, estimates, predictions, or similar expressions for the future, including any statements regarding the payment of any dividend, the timing or amount of such payment or the anticipated tax treatment of any such payment, are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. No assurance can be given that the outcomes of these forward-looking statements will be realized, and actual results could differ materially from those expressed as a result of various factors. A discussion of these factors, including risks and uncertainties, is set forth from time to time in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Noble Corporation

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