Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

Plexus Holdings PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: POS / Sector: Oil equipment & services

13 February 2014

Plexus Holdings PLC ('Plexus' or 'the Company')

Additional £1.5 million Well Order from - GDF SUEZ E&P UK Ltd

Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, is pleased to announce it has received a purchase order worth an estimated £1.5 million from GDF SUEZ E&P UK Ltd ('GDF'), a leading oil and gas company, to supply its POS-GRIP wellhead system for exploration activities in the UK Central North Sea. Operations are due to commence shortly.

The new purchase order is for the second of two wells as announced on 23 May 2013 which formed part of an original ongoing contract with GDF, the details of which were provided to the market on 8 August 2011. This second purchase order is for the supply of Plexus' POS-GRIP 18-3/4" Surface Wellhead System for a low pressure well.

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "Having proved the superiority of our wellhead equipment in HP/HT conditions, as evidenced by Plexus' dominant share in this segment of the North Sea market, we are also receiving orders for wells operating in less extreme/low pressure environments, as this latest GDF order shows. In addition to supplying operators with best in class wellhead equipment in terms of performance, reliability and safety, our POS-GRIP technology also offers considerable time and cost saving benefits, as well as safety features in line with ALARP (as low as reasonably practical) HSE principles. We believe the compelling combination of superior performance and cost savings will drive further orders to supply wells operating in less challenging conditions, as we look to position Plexus as the go-to provider in the multi-billion dollar wellhead equipment market, both on the surface and in due course subsea." 

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.posgrip.com or contact:

Notes to Editor

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 for exploration and production applications. Based in Aberdeen, with offices in London, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur 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®, 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. Importantly, the Company is focussed on extending its proprietary technology into an increasing number of subsea applications. In line with this, in March 2011 the Company launched an initiative to develop a new subsea wellhead design, HGSS™, utilising its friction-grip technology in collaboration with key oil and gas operators and service companies. Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, Tullow Oil, ENI, Oil States Industries Inc., TOTAL and the UK entity of the world's largest offshore drilling company have joined the initiative to date. The 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, annulus pressure monitoring and access for 'bleed off' capability to address sustained casing pressure ('SCP') issues which are recognised by the API as a serious industry problem, and rigid metal annular seal technology qualified to match the performance of premium casing. The design process has now been completed, and prototype testing is due for completion mid 2014.

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 300 oil and gas wells by international companies including 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 Egypt, StatoilHydro, Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall.