Dolphin Drilling rig to stay put until arbitration over terminated deal ends
The Blackford Dolphin, a rig owned by offshore driller Dolphin Drilling, will be forced to stay in Nigeria after all as the Nigerian court placed an existing interim injunction on the rig until an arbitration is concluded.
Nigeria’s General Hydrocarbons Limited (GHL) has continued making attempts to force Dolphin Drilling to complete the work under a terminated drilling contract for the rig.
The semisub rig owner terminated the contract with GHL for the rig at the end of April. The two companies reached an agreement in March for past-due payments from GHL to Dolphin Drilling and the remaining work under the drilling contract for the rig. The Norwegian company received further payment and the rig continued operations for GHL. The next payment in the plan was due by late April 2024. As the payment was not made, Dolphin Drilling issued a notice of termination to GHL.
Since then, local media even reported that the Nigerian firm secured a restraining order in the Federal High Court in Lagos, which would, allegedly, prevent Dolphin Drilling from removing, demobilising, or decommissioning the rig from the field it was working on before a hearing to determine its faith.
The offshore driller refuted those claims but GHL did make an application to the Nigerian courts for an interim injunction seeking to maintain the status quo, pending the appointment of an arbitrator.
On Monday, the court ordered that an existing interim injunction which would maintain the status quo will remain in force until the arbitrator makes a final decision. Dolphin Drilling said on Tuesday that it would be making submissions for consideration by the arbitrator, seeking the discharge of the interim injunction, during the week.
The offshore driller also said that it received service of Nigerian court proceedings in an action brought by Technova Africa International.
Technova has obtained an ex parte order of arrest against the Blackford Dolphin. The Norwegian firm is process of reviewing the court proceedings and believes that Technova’s claims are ‘without merit’.
“The company shall be taking immediate steps to contest the court proceedings including to contest the said order,” Dolphin Drilling said in an Oslo Bors filing.
This complicates things on the contractual side as well as the rig was supposed to exit Nigeria and prepare for transit to India to begin work for Oil India Limited as it had no other contractual obligations in the African nation.
