Hoping for Borgland Dolphin at Oil India
Oil India has not given up hope it can bring the semi-submersible Borgland Dolphin rig to drill off the Andamans.
Despite challenges with the Indian timeline for Borgland, which has won another contract from UK-based EnQuest. From January 3 (2024) to January 6 (2024), an Oil India team was in Norway for face-to-face discussions with rig owner Dolphin Drilling and to assess Borgland Dolphin, where it is 'warm-stacked'.
Oil India awarded a LoA to Dolphin on October 19 (2023), but on November 28 (2023), Dolphin announced it had secured a contract for the same rig from UK-based EnQuest for 137 days. "There was a problem with the timeline," explains an Oil India source.
"Borgland can't mobilise in time for us because the rig needs repairs to its Blow Out Preventer (BOP) before it can mobilise." He adds: "Dolphin has offered us Blackford Dolphin instead, which is in Nigeria; we want a rig as soon as possible as we are ready with the rest of the (drilling service) contracts."
Oil India's team went to Norway for a face-to-face discussion to resolve the matter and to assess Borgland Dolphin. Under the tender terms, Oil India clearly states a bidder winning a LoA for one rig cannot substitute it for another.
If Oil India agrees to allow Dolphin's request to replace Borgland with Blackford, it risks a CVC corruption inquiry in India. But if it doesn't accept the replacement, the drilling programme will be delayed, and the other contracts with service providers might have to be cancelled.
Blackford Dolphin was previously drilling off Nigeria for Peak Petroleum at $325,000/day under a contract terminated on December 1 (2023) "for continued breach." An industry source stresses that moving a rig to the Andamans from Nigeria, where Blackford was working, would be easier and faster than moving Borgland from Norway, which needs maintenance.
Still unclear is when Borgland's contract with EnQuest will start or whether it could mobilise for Oil India before then.