Expansion of Operational HQ Aberdeen

RNS Number : 6714Q

Plexus Holdings Plc

03 September 2014

 



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

3 September 2014

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

Expansion of Operational Headquarters in Aberdeen through

£2.4m Acquisition of Additional Work Shop and Office Facility

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  has doubled the size of its operational headquarters in Dyce, Aberdeen through the purchase of a c.36,000 sq.ft. work shop and office facility (the 'New Facility') for £2.4 million.  The New Facility lies immediately adjacent to Plexus' existing 36,500 sq. ft site in Aberdeen and was previously occupied by leading oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

The acquisition of the New Facility is in line with the Company's strategy to increase its operational capacity in Aberdeen as it continues to strengthen its ability to support and respond to the growing demand for its best in class POS-GRIP High Pressure/ High Temperature ('HP/HT') and standard exploration, production and ultimately subsea wellhead equipment and services in the North Sea and globally.  The New Facility will also enable Plexus to consolidate its work facilities, thereby significantly improving its logistical efficiencies whilst creating additional workshop, warehouse and service bay capacity, in addition to providing further office space.

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "This is a significant milestone for the Company which sees us effectively double our working facilities at our headquarters in Aberdeen. Importantly, we are able to achieve this with minimal disruption to daily activities around on-going operations. We believe this investment will play an important role in our future strategy as an innovative technology-led business which is committed to making significant inroads into the global oil and gas wellhead equipment market.  This move illustrates our confidence in the continued growth plans of Plexus' POS-GRIP wellhead equipment supply business in the exploration, production and ultimately subsea markets across our blue chip oil and gas client base, and is a move which we hope will generate new job opportunities in the Aberdeen oil and gas sector and related businesses."

**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]
Alan Stewart	Cenkos Securities PLC	Tel: [phone]
Felicity Edwards	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]
Frank Buhagiar	St Brides Media & Finance Ltd	Tel: [phone]

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, 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. 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 the end 2014, with the running of a prototype in the field targeted for the second half of 2015.

To date, POS-GRIP wellhead systems have been used or selected to be used in over 300 oil and gas wells by international companies including 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, Red Sea Petroleum Operating Company, Repsol, RWE, Senergy Limited, Shell Egypt, StatoilHydro, Silverstone Energy, Talisman Energy, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall.

 

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