Dolphin Drilling and IKM Gruppen sign drilling and well services deal

Offshore drilling contractor Dolphin Drilling has entered into a master frame agreement with Norway’s IKM Gruppen for drilling and well services.

Dolphin Drilling revealed on Tuesday that a master frame agreement for drilling and well services was signed with IKM Gruppen under its new Well Delivery Model umbrella.

Bjørnar Iversen, Chief Executive Officer at Dolphin Drilling, remarked: “We have a strong focus on the changing market dynamics and have been working intensely on developing a new Well Delivery Model enabled by technological advances and new and improved operating models and we see IKM as an ideal collaborative partner together with whom we can achieve our goals.”

According to the offshore drilling contractor, this frame agreement will initially focus on ROV services, underpinning the integration of services and personnel between the two companies, while delivering “world-class performance through the newest remote-operated technology.”

Furthermore, the firm explains that its Well Delivery Model is a customised support service created to assist clients with oil and gas production through “competitive solutions” with a reduced carbon footprint. The company also elaborated that the virtual operation was created with the global demand for cleaner energy solutions and the energy transition in mind, combining the “latest advances” in drilling technology with new ways of working to deliver “significant value results” from increased safety, lower emissions and increased efficiencies.

Ståle Kyllingstad, CEO of IKM Gruppen, commented: “Over the past decades, IKM has always tried to adopt a way of working to reduce cost and increase efficiency. The ability to operate ROVs from shore, that IKM has been commercially offering and operating since 2018, is a good example of this. Combining our offering with Dolphin Drilling’s ambitions to offer more sustainable and effective rig operations, is a journey we’re excited to be a part of.”

Dolphin Drilling operates a fleet of three Aker H3 moored, semi-submersible fourth and fifth-generation drilling rigs – Borgland Dolphin, Blackford Dolphin, and Bideford Dolphin – which are currently being marketed in the UK, Norway and internationally.

Following an audit by certification and classification organisation DNV, Dolphin Drilling in May last year secured Energy Management System ISO 50001:2018 certification.

At the time, the offshore drilling contractor claimed to be the first company of its kind to successfully achieve the certification, demonstrating its commitment to addressing energy performance by reducing energy use, energy costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.