Wellesley hires Dolphin rig for North Sea campaign

Offshore drilling contractor Dolphin Drilling will carry out a programme of North Sea drilling work for oil and gas company Wellesley Petroleum.

Dolphin Drilling said on Monday it has secured a two-well contract with an option for two more wells with Wellesley.

The first firm well work is scheduled to start this autumn, with the second being drilled in 2021.

The two optional wells are also planned for 2021 and Wellesley has chosen the Borgland Dolphin as its rig of choice for the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) work.

It is also worth reminding that Dolphin last February secured a one-well plus one optional well contract with Wellesley Petroleum for drilling work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Bjørnar Iversen, Chief Executive Officer of Dolphin Drilling, said: “I am very glad that Wellesley Petroleum is showing responsibility by drilling on the NCS during this difficult time with coronavirus and low oil prices.

“I hope that oil companies with exploration campaigns or other drilling needs, see through the short-term market fluctuations and use this opportunity to use Borgland Dolphin to get their wells drilled in 2020 and 2021“.

Callum Smyth, Operations Manager at Wellesley Petroleum, said: “We put a lot of weighting on selecting a drilling contractor with the right culture, and the Dolphin Drilling team have demonstrated exactly the kind of culture that we want with a track record of teamwork, ownership and experience with operators like Wellesley Petroleum”.

In related news, i3 Energy in March awarded a drilling contract to a Dolphin Drilling-owned rig and agreed on a sale of an interest in a block offshore the UK.

i3 will use either the Borgland Dolphin or Blackford Dolphin semi-submersible drilling rig for a minimum 82-day program which is due to start not later than 1 September 2020.