Bjørnar Iversen
| Bjørnar Iversen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 July 1968 Kristiansund, Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Education | Siviløkonom, Norwegian School of Economics; Harvard Business School |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Employer | Dolphin Drilling |
| Title | Chief Executive Officer |
| Known for | Restructuring of Songa Offshore, 2013 to 2014 |
Bjørnar Iversen (born 25 July 1968 in Kristiansund) is a Norwegian business executive in the offshore drilling industry. He has served as chief executive officer of Dolphin Drilling, a drilling contractor based in Stavanger and Aberdeen, since June 2019. He previously led Songa Offshore as chief executive through a restructuring in 2013 and 2014 and spent 17 years in senior roles at Odfjell Drilling.
Iversen is from Veiholmen in Smøla municipality and is today resident in Smøla. He is described in Norwegian sources as a leading figure in the oil and gas drilling sector, with top executive experience across three companies in the industry.
Early life and education
Iversen grew up in Veiholmen, in Smøla municipality on the Norwegian coast, and continues to live in Smøla. He holds a siviløkonom degree, the Norwegian equivalent of a graduate degree in business administration, from the Norwegian School of Economics (Norges Handelshøyskole). He also completed further study at Harvard Business School. His stated areas of specialisation are business strategy, negotiation and complex decision making.
Career
Odfjell Drilling, 17 years
Iversen spent 17 years at Odfjell Drilling in a series of senior positions. These included chief executive officer and president of the group's Odfjell Galvao venture in Brazil, director of business development for the wider group, director of its drilling technology unit and director of its well services unit.
Iversen was central to the establishment of what became Odfjell Drilling Technology, a unit he was responsible for over more than 10 years, during which he took part in opening offices in Bergen, Stavanger and Stjørdal, as well as in Manila, Dubai, South Korea, Rio de Janeiro and Aberdeen. Iversen was also closely involved in newbuilding projects the group carried out in Singapore, at Keppel FELS, and in South Korea, at Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. In addition, he took part in building up its well management business, later partly sold to HitecVision and merged into Ross Offshore, a services venture known as PSW Group, later sold to Hercules Invest, and an integrated operations unit later sold to Kongsberg Oil and Gas Technologies.
Songa Offshore, 2013 to 2018
In 2013 the management of Songa Offshore changed and Iversen became chief executive of the company. He led Songa Offshore through a restructuring carried out in 2013 and 2014, in which Frederik Mohn took up the position of main owner. At the time, Songa Offshore was the largest floating rig company operating on the Norwegian continental shelf, with a total of seven floating rigs and around 1,400 employees, with offices in Cyprus, Stavanger, Bergen and Oslo. The restructuring involved contributions from the existing owners, from Statoil as a customer, and from bondholders and banks, and was named the oil and gas restructuring of the year for 2013 by the Marine Money Conference.
Related reporting on the company states that Transocean announced its acquisition of Songa Offshore in August 2017, in a deal valued at 1.2 billion US dollars in cash with an enterprise value of around 3.4 billion US dollars, and that the transfer of the business was completed by 30 January 2018. Norwegian sources describing Iversen's tenure put the completed sale in February 2018, at a price of 26.4 billion Norwegian kroner, and describe it as a significant gain for the owners.
Dolphin Drilling, since 2019
Iversen became chief executive officer of Dolphin Drilling in June 2019, taking up the role in connection with a change in the company's ownership and management. Dolphin Drilling, based in Stavanger and Aberdeen, was listed on Euronext Growth in Oslo in October 2023 under the ticker DDRIL.
Under his leadership the company has operated a fleet described as five standard drilling rigs, including the Borgland Dolphin, the Bideford Dolphin and the Blackford Dolphin, and in the summer of 2023 it purchased two further rigs from Transocean, the Paul B. Lloyd Jr. and the Transocean Leader. Iversen sits on a number of boards connected to Dolphin Drilling's activities in Norway and internationally.
Other roles
Iversen has also sat on the board of, and led the oil and gas group within, Bergen Næringsråd, the Bergen chamber of commerce.
Assessment
Iversen's principal achievement on the record available is the 2013 to 2014 restructuring of Songa Offshore, which secured the participation of owners, a major customer and lenders and was externally recognised by the Marine Money Conference as the industry's restructuring deal of the year. The company's later sale to Transocean is described in Norwegian sources as having produced a substantial gain for its owners, though the available sources do not detail Iversen's personal compensation or his specific role in negotiating that outcome. His earlier career shows a long record of building organisational and operational infrastructure at Odfjell Drilling, including opening offices across several continents and shepherding newbuilding and divestment projects, rather than a single defining deal. The available sources are limited largely to a Norwegian biographical entry and company history, and do not offer independent or critical assessment of his leadership; no adverse findings are recorded in the material reviewed here.