OK, there's a guy in my office that knows the history of the company. He had told me about the relationship b/n the two awhile back, prior to awards. I will pick his brain and see what else he knows. He went to college with a member of the Noble family.
"Noble Energy has explored for, produced and marketed crude oil and natural gas for nearly three-quarters of a century. Lloyd Noble founded Samedan Oil Corporation in southern Oklahoma in 1932, a time when the U.S. oil and gas industry was new and many new oil discoveries were being made. By the 1970s, the company, known then by the parent name Noble Affiliates Inc, had three distinct business lines - oil and gas exploration (Samedan Oil Corporation), drilling (Noble Drilling Corporation), and trucking (B. F. Walker). "