Python Subsea Wellhead Launch Update

RNS Number : 7769Q

Plexus Holdings Plc

22 June 2015

 



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

22 June 2015

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

Plexus announces product launch date for POS-GRIP Python® Subsea Wellhead

Joint Industry Project supported by BG, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, TOTAL, Tullow Oil, eni, Senergy, and Oil States Industries Inc.

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 that it will launch its new POS-GRIP Python Subsea Wellhead ('Python Subsea Wellhead') during Europe's biggest Oil and Gas trade show, 'SPE Offshore Europe', on 8 September 2015.  The new Python Subsea Wellhead, previously referred to as the "HGSS" Wellhead, has been designed to address key technical issues and requirements highlighted by regulators following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010 and to achieve a new best in class standard for subsea wellheads that can for the first time match those of premium couplings. 

The Python Subsea Wellhead has been under development since 2011 within a Joint Industry Project ('JIP') supported by major oil and gas operators and service company  consulting partners, including BG, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, TOTAL, Tullow Oil, eni, Senergy, and Oil States Industries Inc.  Entering the global subsea market is a key part of Plexus' management's strategy to expand the Company's suite of POS-GRIP wellhead equipment into larger fast growing markets.  Subsea exploration and production has grown rapidly since 2000 in terms of total expenditure from US$7billion to approximately US$45billion in 2014.   According to a report by Rystad Energy in May 2014 this strong growth is expected to continue, with subsea expenditure forecast to grow by an annual rate of 15%, to US$115 billion by 2020.

In terms of Python's development, Plexus has recently achieved several additional technical milestones in the qualification and testing of the new system, and will have a full prototype system on display at SPE Offshore Europe in Aberdeen in September 2015.  At the launch, Plexus expects to be able to announce further details of the enhanced safety and cost saving features of the Python Subsea Wellhead, as well as positive results of qualification testing, to standards which significantly exceed conventional industry requirements. Plexus anticipates the Python Subsea Wellhead will be ready for offshore deployment in a trial well during 2016.

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "I am delighted that the Python Subsea Wellhead system will be launched at the September SPE Offshore Europe Aberdeen oil show. Personally for me this is a forty four year dream come true. In June 1971 I started my career with Vetco in Ventura California as a service engineer installing some of the earliest subsea wellhead systems on projects around the world.  Now it gives me great pleasure to be part of the team that has designed and delivered a new class of subsea wellhead which we believe will raise subsea wellhead standards to a best in class level not considered possible in the past.

"The Plexus engineers who have worked tirelessly over the past four years are to be commended for their engineering ingenuity and perseverance, and the JIP member representatives who have taken part in the design process of the Python subsea wellhead system are also highly deserving of our gratitude for their invaluable contribution to the project.

"The Python Subsea Wellhead system is designed to deliver true and verifiable metal to metal sealing capability in ultra deep-water, and is also aimed at simplifying installation procedures to such an extent that numerous installation trips are eliminated to render the system effective cost negative. I am very proud of our achievement and I look forward to help promote this ground-breaking technology, as it moves from prototype to product."

**ENDS**

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

Ben van Bilderbeek	Plexus Holdings PLC	Tel: [phone]
Graham Stevens	Plexus Holdings PLC	Tel: [phone]
Derrick Lee	Cenkos Securities PLC	Tel: [phone]
Nick Tulloch	Cenkos Securities PLC	Tel: [phone]
Felicity Winkles	St Brides Partners Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Frank Buhagiar	St Brides Partners Ltd	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

Plexus Holdings PLC

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 together with associated equipment and services for exploration and production applications. Based in Aberdeen, with offices in London, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore 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.

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 350 oil and gas wells by international companies including ADTI, AGR, 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, Premier Oil Norge, Red Sea Petroleum Operating Company, Repsol, RWE, Senergy Limited, Shell China, Shell Egypt, Statoil, Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall.

Importantly, the Company is focussed on extending its proprietary POS-GRIP technology into an increasing number of subsea applications. In line with this, in March 2011 the Company launched a Joint Industry Project ('JIP') initiative to develop a new subsea wellhead design, the 'Python Subsea Wellhead' utilising its friction-grip technology in collaboration with key oil and gas operators and service companies. BG, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, TOTAL, Tullow Oil, ENI, Senergy, ADTI and Oil States Industries Inc. The JIP is nearing completion with final qualification testing of all key features of the product under way, and the resultant Python 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, and importantly rigid metal annular seal technology qualified to match the performance of premium connectors. The building of a single string Python Subsea Wellhead system prototype commenced in February, and will be ready for display at the SPE Offshore Europe Exhibition and Conference in Aberdeen ('OE2015') in September.

Plexus is an innovative technology company always looking for opportunities to apply its proprietary POS-GRIP friction grip method of engineering to new products both within and outside the oil and gas industry. For example Plexus have recently completed a JIP in conjunction with Maersk to develop a downhole HPHT Tieback connector which for the first time allows the reconnection of production casing to HPHT exploration and production wells. In addition the Company has developed and qualified a new product called "POS-SET Connector™ which is designed to re-establish a connection onto rough conductor casing previously cut above the seabed to facilitate tieback or abandonment operations. The market for permanent plugging and abandonment of wells is increasing in the North Sea and beyond, and could be an important new revenue stream for the company. 

 

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