Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

19 November 2013

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

Centrica Production Well Contract Win

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, known for its safety, time and cost saving capabilities, announces it has extended a contract with Centrica North Sea Gas Ltd ('Centrica') for the supply and sale of an additional POS-GRIP wellhead system (5,000 psi) and services for the GROVE 49/10a-4 (G1) production well in the southern North Sea. The contract is worth up to £850,000 with revenues expected to commence in the first quarter of Plexus' 2014 financial year.

This contract win is a significant milestone for Plexus as it continues to expand its wellhead offering from exploration drilling into the larger and more lucrative production market, where the Company sees considerable future growth potential. In addition it also highlights Plexus' strong working relationship with Centrica, with which Plexus has worked with over the past seven years in the North Sea region. 

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "We are delighted to have secured this production wellhead supply contract which not only underpins the strength of our POS-GRIP technology for its safety, reliability and performance but also our strategic expansion from exploration wellhead supply diversifying into larger markets.

"In line with this expansion strategy, we are also actively pursuing the subsea wellhead market where we believe significant commercial opportunities for Plexus exist. We are developing a new and safer subsea wellhead "HGSS", working alongside six major oil and gas companies and believe we are on track to deliver a transformational best in class subsea wellhead system for the future.

"As such this is a truly exciting time for Plexus as we continue to win contracts for the supply of our niche POS-GRIP wellhead jack-up rig rental systems, and continue to position ourselves as a significant wellhead supplier of choice across exploration, production and indeed subsea."

**ENDS**

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

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 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 250 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