Dolphin Drilling wins $100m in Nigerian court case

Semisub rig owner Dolphin Drilling has won a prolonged court spat with Nigerian oil company General Hydrocarbons Limited over a contract termination.

The disagreement between the two companies started in April this year when Dolphin Drilling terminated a contract for the Blackford Dolphin rig with the Nigerian company over missed payments.

The Nigerian company took the Norwegian firm to court in an attempt to force Dolphin Drilling to complete the work under the terminated deal. Then, Technova Africa got involved and obtained an ex parte order of arrest against the rig which was lifted in mid-June.

In July, the Norwegian rig owner submitted a bank guarantee of $20m which enabled the firm to remove the 1974-built rig from Nigerian waters.

In October, the rig arrived in Indian waters and it finally started its $154m long-term drilling contract with Oil India in November. Initially, the work was supposed to start as early as the second quarter of 2024 but the court case delayed the start of operations.

Dolphin Drilling said in a statement that the case against the Nigerian oil firm had a ‘positive outcome’ and that it received the final award from the court.

The court also awarded certain subsidiary entities of the company sums of approximately $100m which the offshore driller will attempt to collect immediately.