Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

23 Jul 2008 07:00



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

23 July 2008

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

Acquisition of Plexus Deepwater Technologies Limited

Plexus Holdings PLC , the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business, has exercised a long standing option to purchase US based Plexus Deepwater Technologies Limited ('PDT') from Grant Prideco, Inc for a total consideration of US$2 million. This acquisition delivers to Plexus the 50% commercial interest over the POS-GRIP® subsea technology intellectual property ('IP') rights that Grant Prideco controlled at the time of Admission to AIM in December 2005, and leaves Plexus with 100% ownership and full control. 

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "The acquisition of PDT provides us with a US based operating company, and unites our POS-GRIP subsea IP rights at a time when we are developing the ability to participate in the subsea arena. The recent announcement of our first North Sea subsea crossover wellhead installation for AGR Petroleum and its client Silverstone Energy Ltd, and an ongoing development  and planned field test programme of a remote casing suspension device for use on semi-submersible drilling rigs, illustrates the extent to which we are branching out into new areas of application for POS-GRIP technology.

"I believe that the market is beginning to understand the longer term embedded value of our proprietary technology and the important role it will play in the re-emergence of the North Sea as a long term energy producing area. Furthermore, operators are recognising Plexus' ability to supply products which enable the continued development of unconventional reservoirs around the world, where the need to explore and produce in deeper and higher pressure formations requires unique solutions."

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Notes

Plexus Holdings PLC

Plexus, which began trading on AIM in December 2005, is an established oil and gas engineering, and services business based in Aberdeen, with an office in London and a presence in Houston, Texas. It has developed and patented a 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.

POS-GRIP wellhead systems have to date been used or selected to be used in over 130 oil and gas wells by international companies including BHP Billiton, BG International, BP, Brunei Shell Petroleum, Centrica, ConocoPhillips, Gaz de France, Global Santa Fe, Maersk, Petro-Canada Trinidad & Tobago, RWE, Repsol, StatoilHydro, Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall.

The Company plans to accelerate the roll out of POS-GRIP technology as a superior alternative to current wellhead technology. It has particular advantages in HP/HT and X-HP/HT oil and gas environments for which there is increasing demand throughout the world. The Company's long-term goal is to develop POS-GRIP technology as the future industry standard for wellhead design. This objective includes the distribution of POS-GRIP technology through licensees to maximise market penetration.