Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

22 July 2013

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

Additional £2.5 million Order from Statoil Petroleum AS

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, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a contract for the supply of surface exploration wellhead & mudline equipment services, worth approximately £2.5 million from Statoil Petroleum AS, ('Statoil'), a leading oil and gas company. Under the terms of the contract, Plexus will supply its POS-GRIP High Pressure High Temperature ('HP/HT') wellhead system for two exploration wells in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Revenues are expected to commence in Q3 2014 and the contract period is estimated to extend over a two and a half year period.

The contract is for the supply of the Company's POS-GRIP HP/HT 18-3/4" 15K Wellhead System and Plexus TRT-S Casing Support Mudline System for the two wells. Both HP/HT wells will be drilled using a jackup installation and will require a mudline system to support the casing weight. By electing to use Plexus' wellhead system for these HP/HT wells there is no need for the operator to remove the Blow-out Preventer during operations, a key safety benefit. The contract initially includes two wells, and in addition there are two options for Statoil to extend the contract, with each option lasting for a two year period. 

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "Due to the technical nature and extreme operating environment, Plexus' equipment, with its proven track record in terms of safety, reliability and performance, was well placed to win this contract. Statoil are recognised as operating at the pinnacle of operational and equipment safety standards and requirements and as a result this contract win is particularly encouraging.

"So far this year, we have announced six contracts to supply our best in class wellhead systems to leading operators such as Statoil. These contracts clearly illustrate the momentum behind the Company and in turn the growing recognition by the industry of the superiority of our equipment, which we are confident will extend to POS-GRIP applications beyond our organic exploration rental business."

**ENDS**

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

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. Design process is expected to be completed by mid 2013 calendar year, and will be followed by testing and engineering of a prototype.

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.