With new senior management, board, shareholders and refinanced debt, Dolphin Drilling reported a significant turnaround in EBITDA in H1 2025
Armed with new senior management, board, shareholders and refinanced debt, Dolphin Drilling reported a significant turnaround in EBITDA in H1 2025 compared with a year earlier.
In an earnings call at the end of August, new company chief executive, Jon Oliver Bryce, declared, “Financially, the company has moved from a loss-making position to being back in the black with an H1 EBITDA of US$10,400,000 compared with a negative US$23,200,000 in the same period in 2024”.
Still, Dolphin Drillingposted a net loss of US$26.2M or US$0.09 per share in Q2 due to recording a tax loss of US$19.2M, compared to a loss of US$14.1M or US$0.06 per share in Q2 2024. H1 year earnings per share were a loss of US$0.12, in comparison to a loss of US$ 0.11 in 2024.
Joining Mr Bryce as part of Dolphin Drilling’s new management team, chief financial officer Ingolf Gillesdal called the drilling contractor’s total revenues of US$93M “a massive improvement from same period last year”, when it showed revenues of US$30M in H1 2024.
Dolphin Drilling completed a refinancing scheme and now has a new major long-term investor in Svelland Capital, with a 49% stake. It is pursuing payment ofan arbitration award from Nigeria-based General Hydrocarbons Ltd, which has appealed the decision by Federal High Courts in Lagos.
The Euronext-listed driller’s moored semi-submersibles,Paul B Loyd Junior and Blackford Dolphin, were on firm contracts in H1 2025. Paul B Loyd Junior had a utilisation level of 98% for the first half and is firmly fixed with Harbour Energy in the UK North Sea into 2028, whileBlackford Dolphin (86% utilisation rate) is on charter with Oil India in India into 2026. Borgland Dolphin is being actively marketed and is currently warm stacked at Las Palmas.
Mr Bryce said there is a limited supply of moored semi-submersibles available globally, but a “steady increase in rig demand.” He sees demand in two segments: conventional drilling for hydrocarbons and an increase in plug and abandonment or decommissioning work.
“We are very well placed for follow-on work in an increasingly tightening market,” he concluded.
