Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

10 August 2011

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

Contract Win to Supply Dana Petroleum with Wellhead Exploration Equipment with Subsea Crossover to Production Well Capability

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, has entered into an agreement with global diversified energy services company, Senergy, to provide Dana Petroleum PLC ('Dana') with proprietary POS-GRIP equipment for oil and gas exploration activities in the UK North Sea. The initial contract will be for one well with a value of approximately £250,000 commencing in December 2011, however this may be expanded.

Under the terms of the contract, Plexus will supply Dana with its POS-GRIP 10,000 psi wellhead equipment together with its M2S mudline suspension system for use on the Possum well in the UK North Sea. It is believed that the contract was won due to the ease with which Plexus' M2S system, which utilises the POS-GRIP end fittings at the ocean floor, can convert from a mudline suspension system to subsea production from a jack-up rig if the exploration well is successful. This means that a surface wellhead, surface blow out preventer ('BOP') and casing riser are used, eliminating the requirement for a high pressure drilling riser or a subsea BOP, delivering significant time and cost savings.

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "We are delighted to add Dana to our operator user base as we continue our international growth drive and strategy to position our technology as the future standard for wellhead design, not only for surface but also for subsea applications. In this case, we believe that our equipment was chosen due to its ability to convert a successful exploration well to a subsea production well and deliver significant time and cost savings. 

"The operational benefits of POS-GRIP are being increasingly recognised across the industry, particularly for subsea related activities as this contract highlights, and as a result we are experiencing an escalating number of enquiries, which we hope to convert into new contracts in the future."

**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. 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.  Field trials of HGSS are targeted for deployment Q3 2012. 

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 150 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, 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.