Plexus Regulatory News (POS)

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

10 June 2013

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

Additional £2 million Two Well Order from Det Norske Oljeselskap

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 signed a new contract for two wells from Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA ('DetNor'), a leading oil and gas company, to supply its POS-GRIP High Pressure High Temperature ('HP/HT') wellhead system for two exploration wells in the Norwegian Continental Shelf worth a total of approximately £2 million. Revenues are expected to commence in July 2013 and are estimated to extend over a 12-18 month period. 

The contract is for the supply of the Company's POS-GRIP HP/HT 18-3/4" 15M Surface Wellhead System and Mudline Casing Support for two wells to be drilled from the Maersk Giant rig, the first of which is due to spud later this calendar year. The second DetNor well is expected to commence drilling within 16 months. Currently eight wells are scheduled to be drilled on the Maersk Giant rig, six of which will be using Plexus' equipment, including the Frode well operated by Talisman Energy Inc which is currently drilling.

DetNor has previously used the Company's POS-GRIP wellhead equipment during a separate drilling campaign off the Maersk Guardian rig, also in the Norwegian North Sea, in 2012 when it was a part of the consortium that included Centrica and Faroe Petroleum plc (AIM: FPM) which drilled three wells, as previously announced on 29 March 2011. 

Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "In recent months, the accelerating level of oil and gas exploration and development activity in the North Sea has been well-documented. Thanks to a dominant position in the provision of HP/HT wellhead equipment in this region, Plexus is already seeing evidence of this increased investment in the form of contract wins including this award by Det Norske. As a result of our success to date, we are well placed to win further repeat and new business both in the North Sea and other parts of the world where our reputation within the industry as a supplier of wellhead equipment with the highest standards of safety, reliability, time saving capabilities and performance is growing. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in due course."

**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. 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.