Deepwater GOM

Several years ago, Noble Energy migrated its Gulf of Mexico investments to deepwater where our activities are driven by exploration. Our focus is on high-impact opportunities with the potential to provide significant medium and long-term growth to the Company. With a track record of success in finding and developing crude oil and natural gas resources, we have several large producing fields, multiple ongoing development projects and a substantial inventory of additional exploration opportunities.

The discoveries at Galapagos (Isabela, Santa Cruz, and Santiago) and Gunflint position Noble Energy to be a major player in this region for years to come. First production from these discoveries is targeted for the first half of 2012 from the Galapagos complex, with initial production rates expected of more than 10 thousand barrels of oil per day to Noble Energy. In early 2011, we received the industry's first permit to return to drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico at the Santiago prospect. The discovery at Santiago is our third successful oil well in the Galapagos project, where total gross discovered resources are approximately 130 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe). Additional recovery potential and multiple follow-on opportunities increase Galapagos total resource potential to 250 MMBoe gross.

South Raton is expected to come online early in the first quarter of 2012 with 3 thousand barrels of oil per day net to Noble Energy.

Gunflint, a subsalt Miocene discovery from 2008, represents the Company's largest Gulf of Mexico discovery to-date. After signing a unitization agreement, we retained operatorship at Gunflint with a 26 percent working interest. Appraisal drilling is in progress at Gunflint, up to 500 MMBoe of total gross resources, to define the extent and potential development scenario.

With an unrisked net exploration inventory of approximately 2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, we maintain a multi-year inventory of prospects focused on subsalt Miocene and proven amplitude plays. In the second half of 2011, we returned to drilling at the Deep Blue prospect, which was suspended during the deepwater Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium. Hydrocarbons were encountered and results are being evaluated. New exploration is currently planned for 2012.