Dolphin Drilling has terminated its contract with Peak Petroleum for the supply of a rig to the Nigerian operator.
The Norwegian drilling company flagged problems in Nigeria during its third quarter results, filed on November 28.
At the time, the company said General Hydrocarbons had reached a receivable balance, owed to Dolphin, of $41 million. This included a $6mn sum payable by Peak.
Dolphin said it had taken the decision to terminate the Peak contract. Following this decision, the rig should now be available at the end of the first quarter of 2024.
The Blackford Dolphin semi-submersible went to work for General Hydrocarbons in March this year. At the time, Dolphin said this carried a $260,000 dayrate.
The General Hydrocarbons contract was to run for 12 months. After completing this work, the Blackford Dolphin would move to work for Peak. This had a minimum term of 120 days and a maximum of 485 days.
Dolphin said the minimum term contract for Peak had an effective dayrate of $325,000, including mobilisation. During the third quarter, Dolphin reported operating costs for the Blackford to be $106,000 per day, down from $116,000 in the second quarter.
The drilling company has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Esgian has reported Dolphin is in talks with Oil India to send the Blackford Dolphin to India. It has a possible start date in the second quarter of next year.
Peak has OML 122 in the Gulf of Guinea, which is east of Shell’s Bonga field and southwest of the EA fields.
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