Dolphin Drilling

Dolphin Drilling Holdings Limited
TypeListed company
IndustryOffshore services
Founded1965; 61 years ago (1965)
Headquarters
Aberdeen
,
Scotland, United Kingdom
Key peopleRonny Bjornadal (chairman)
Jon Oliver Bryce (CEO)
ServicesOffshore drilling
Marine engineering
Revenue4,277,000 Norwegian krone (2007) Edit this on Wikidata
1,955,000 Norwegian krone (2007) Edit this on Wikidata
1,392,000 Norwegian krone (2007) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitedolphindrilling.no

Dolphin Drilling Holdings Limited is an offshore drilling rig company headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom with its main subsidiary Dolphin Drilling AS located in Sandnes, Norway. Until 2019, Dolphin Drilling had its headquarters in Oslo, Norway.

The company is most known for having operated the Byford Dolphin drilling rig, which was the site of an explosive decompression incident in 1983, killing five people.

History

In 1965, A/S Aker Drilling Company Ltd. (Dolphin Drilling) was established. In 1976, Fred. Olsen & Co. acquired Aker Drilling Services, and renamed it Dolphin Services A/S.

In 1997, based on Dolphin Services A/S, the Fred. Olsen Energy ASA was formed. The company was listed on Oslo Stock Exchange with the tickers FOE and later DDASA. In 1998, its remotely operated vehicle division was sold to Stolt Comex Seaways (now Subsea 7). In 2003, Dolphin Well Services AS was sold to PSL Energy Services Limited.

Fred. Olsen Energy ASA was renamed to Dolphin Drilling ASA in December 2018. In June 2019, Dolphin Drilling filed for bankruptcy. The main shareholders that time were the companies Bonheur and Ganger Rolf ASA, controlled by the Olsen family. A debt investor SVP Global acquired more than 90% of the company's debts and transferred its operating subsidiaries to a new Jersey-registered holding company, Dolphin Drilling Holdings Limited. Shortly afterwards, the international headquarters of the company were moved to Aberdeen.

In May 2022, it was announced that Cyprus-headquartered oilfield services company, SD Standard ETC had acquired a 25% stake in Dolphin Drilling, as part of a $10 million USD deal.

As of March 2025, Dolphin Drilling AS underwent changes in its ownership structure:

Fleet

Fleet owned and operated:

References

  1. ↑ McCormick, Myles (26 June 2019). "Norway's Dolphin Drilling files for bankruptcy". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  2. ↑ McPhee, David (27 June 2019). "Dolphin Drilling files for bankruptcy, creates new holding company". Energy Voice. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  3. ↑ Solsvik, Terje (26 June 2019). "Dolphin Drilling Declares Bankruptcy". Offshore Engineer. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Thomas, Allister (6 September 2019). "Dolphin Drilling hails 'rebirth' establishing Aberdeen as international HQ". Energy Voice. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Andrew Dykes (6 May 2022). "SD Standard acquires 25% stake in Dolphin Drilling". Energy Voice. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Drilling, Dolphin. "Contemplated secondary sale of existing shares in Dolphin Drilling AS". Dolphin Drilling. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  7. 1 2 Drilling, Dolphin. "DDRIL - Disclosure of shareholding". Dolphin Drilling. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  8. ↑ "Successful secondary sale of existing shares in Dolphin Drilling AS". live.euronext.com. Retrieved 1 April 2025.