TIDMPOS
RNS Number : 3961I
Plexus Holdings Plc
25 March 2015
Plexus Holdings PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: POS / Sector: Oil
equipment & services
25 March 2015
Plexus Holdings PLC ('Plexus' or 'the Company')
New Plexus POS-GRIP(R) Product - First Order from Centrica
for
POS-SET Connector(TM) for the Growing Abandonment Market
Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering
services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP(R)
friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, is pleased to
announce a purchase order ('PO') to supply and rent its new product
POS-SET Connector(TM) utilising POS-GRIP friction grip engineering,
which is to be used by Centrica Energy Exploration and Production
('Centrica') for abandonment operations on a gas well originally
drilled 32 years ago in 1982 offshore Holland. This represents
Plexus' first PO secured for the lucrative abandonment market,
which the Directors believe has significant growth potential as a
large number of ageing wells reach the end of their life in the
North Sea and other regions and could become an important new
revenue stream for the Company. The total value of the contract
including engineering and testing work undertaken by Plexus is
estimated at GBP0.8 million. Revenues are expected to commence in
March 2015.
The proprietary POS-SET Connector has been developed and
qualified to enable operators to re-establish a connection onto
rough conductor casing that has been previously cut above the
seabed to facilitate abandonment operations. Full scale testing has
shown that the Plexus connector can achieve 80% of the bending and
tensile strength of the parent pipe, which is significantly better
than conventional alternatives. The POS-SET product can also be
used on a number of applications in addition to abandonment
including subsea completion operations using Subsea Tie Back
Wellhead and Surface Wellhead Tie Back Platform Completion.
The POS-SET Connector was initially developed and successfully
tested for Wintershall Holland. The PO with Centrica will be the
first time the equipment will be installed out in the field in an
abandonment application. Centrica will utilise a Plexus POS-SET
Connector which has been designed specifically to be compatible
with the 30 x 0.5" conductor originally used to drill the well and
which has since been cut off above the sea bed. Plexus has a long
standing relationship with Centrica having provided the operator
with equipment for use on a number of exploration and appraisal
wells in the North Sea, including the recent Grove Infill and
Pegasus West wells.
Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "This latest order with
Centrica represents another major milestone for Plexus, as it sees
us enter a new and growing abandonment market where regulation is
increasingly focused on the best available equipment solutions.
According to the DECC, out of the plus 11,000 wells that have been
drilled offshore UK, 5,000 remain active. These wells along with
those in other parts of the North Sea, and around the world will
have to be abandoned in a responsible manner once they have reached
the end of their lives. With regulatory scrutiny on decommissioning
and abandonment practices on the rise, we are confident that
POS-SET offers operators similar performance, safety and cost
benefits that our core POS-GRIP wellhead equipment has delivered on
over 350 wells drilled worldwide. As a result, we believe this
contract with Centrica has the potential to be the first of many
and that POS-SET is well placed to secure a large share of this
growing market.
"It has always been our strategy to first prove the superiority
of our POS-GRIP friction grip method of engineering based equipment
in the most extreme operating environments, and having established
Plexus as the dominant supplier in the HP/HT market in the North
Sea, we have done just that. Our next objective is to build on this
proven capability and expand both geographically and in terms of
applications for our game changing POS-GRIP technology. POS-SET is
the latest member of the POS-GRIP family of equipment to enter the
market but it will not be the last. With the Tie-Back Connector and
the Subsea JIP both at advanced stages of development, this is an
exciting time as we continue to pursue our strategy of building
Plexus into a leading oil and gas engineering company offering best
in class equipment and services around the world. In anticipation
of further such exciting product developments over the coming
years, and as we begin to utilise the significant design and
development engineering skills that we have harvested as part of
our HGSS subsea JIP, we have recently incorporated a new subsidiary
- Plexus Applied Technologies Limited."
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.plexusplc.com or
contact:
Ben van Bilderbeek Plexus Holdings PLC Tel: 020 7795 6890
Graham Stevens Plexus Holdings PLC Tel: 020 7795 6890
Derrick Lee Cenkos Securities Tel: 0131 220 9100
PLC
Nick Tulloch Cenkos Securities Tel: 0131 220 9772
PLC
Felicity Winkles St Brides Partners Tel: 020 7236 1177
Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Tel: 020 7236 1177
Notes to Editors:
Plexus Holdings PLC, which began trading on AIM in December
2005, is an oil and gas engineering and services business, which
supplies wellhead and mudline suspension equipment together with
associated equipment and services for exploration and production
applications. Based in Aberdeen, with offices in London, Cairo,
Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and a presence in Houston, Texas, it has
developed and patented a friction-grip method of engineering for
oil and gas field wellheads and connectors, POS-GRIP(R), which
involves deforming one tubular member against another to effect
gripping and sealing.
The Company plans to accelerate the roll out of POS-GRIP
wellhead equipment as a superior alternative to current technology
and for it to become the future industry standard for wellhead
design. In particular, the technology has advantages in High
Pressure/High Temperature (HP/HT) and Extreme HP/HT (X-HP/HT) oil
and gas environments, for which there is growing global demand and
where Plexus is being increasingly recognised as the supplier of
choice.
To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to
be used in over 350 oil and gas wells by international companies
including ADTI, AGR, Apache Energy Australia, BHP Billiton, BG
International, Bowleven plc, BP, Brunei Shell Petroleum, Cairn
Energy, Centrica, ConocoPhillips, Dana Petroleum, Dubai Petroleum,
GDF SUEZ, Global Santa Fe, Maersk, Niko Resources, Petro-Canada
Trinidad & Tobago, Red Sea Petroleum Operating Company, Repsol,
RWE, Senergy Limited, Shell China, Shell Egypt, Statoil,
Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and
Wintershall.
Importantly, the Company is focussed on extending its
proprietary POS-GRIP technology into an increasing number of subsea
applications. In line with this, in March 2011 the Company launched
a Joint Industry Project ('JIP') initiative to develop a new subsea
wellhead design, HGSS(TM), utilising its friction-grip technology
in collaboration with key oil and gas operators and service
companies. BG, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, TOTAL,
Tullow Oil, ENI, Senergy, ADTI and Oil States Industries Inc. The
JIP is nearing completion with final qualification testing of all
key features of the product under way, and the resultant HGSS
subsea wellhead design will include a combination of key features
never before seen in a subsea wellhead which include being rated to
15,000 psi, 4,000,000 pounds of 'instant' casing lockdown capacity,
and importantly rigid metal annular seal technology qualified to
match the performance of premium connectors. The building of a
single string HGSS prototype wellhead system commenced in February,
and is expected to be completed in readiness for display at the
important SPE Offshore Europe Exhibition and Conference in Aberdeen
('OE2015') in September.
Plexus is an innovative technology company always looking for
opportunities to apply its proprietary POS-GRIP friction grip
method of engineering to new products both within and outside the
oil and gas industry. For example Plexus have recently completed a
JIP in conjunction with Maersk to develop a downhole HPHT Tieback
connector which for the first time allows the reconnection of
production casing to HPHT exploration and production wells. In
addition the Company has developed and qualified a new product
called "POS-SET Connector(TM)" which is designed to re-establish a
connection onto rough conductor casing previously cut above the
seabed to facilitate tieback or abandonment operations. The market
for permanent plugging and abandonment of wells is increasing in
the North Sea and beyond, and could be an important new revenue
stream for the Company.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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