Blackford Dolphin stuck in Nigerian courts
Despite Blackford Dolphin's seizure in Nigeria, Oil India management is putting on a brave face about its contract with the rig owner Dolphin Drilling.
On May 21 (2024), Dolphin announced it had "received service of Nigerian court proceedings in an action brought by Technova Africa International; Technova has obtained an ex-parte order of arrest (seizure) against Blackford." Dolphin is in the "process of reviewing the court proceedings and confirms that it considers Technova's claims to be without merit."
Moreover, it "shall be taking immediate steps to contest the court proceedings, including the said order." Officially, Oil India declined to comment.
However, a senior Oil India source unofficially expresses confidence that the company will "overcome" this setback. "We signed a contract with them (Dolphin), and it is their responsibility to deliver," he said.
"We are following the situation closely; if they cannot deliver, we can go elsewhere." He claims that the $154m value of the Dolphin contract is small in the grander scheme of things.
He cites an Rs40,000cr ($5bn) capacity expansion and diversification project at Oil India subsidiary Numaligarh Refinery for comparison. However, an industry source asks how long Oil India will wait for Dolphin and how many times Oil India will allow Dolphin to substitute one rig with another.
Oil India initially awarded the LoA in October 2023 to Dolphin for rig Borgland Dolphin. But instead of mobilising Borgland, Dolphin signed a more lucrative contract with UK-based EnQuest in November 2023 and offered Blackford as a replacement.
Blackford is meant to mobilise for Oil India in the second half of 2024 on a 14-month firm plus an optional seven-month programme to drill off the Andamans, announced in March 2024. But in light of Dolphin's legal troubles, a source believes Oil India should scrap the contract and publish a fast-track tender for a replacement.
"Rigs are available," he says. "Why is Oil India allowing itself to be held hostage to Dolphin's legal problems in Nigeria?" Dolphin is also dealing with unrelated legal proceedings with local Nigerian company General Hydrocarbons (GHL), which had earlier hired Blackford.