Python Subsea Wellhead Launch

RNS Number : 4046Y

Plexus Holdings Plc

08 September 2015

 



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

8 September 2015

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

Launches 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, announces that it has launched the POS-GRIP Python Subsea Wellhead ('Python') at a launch ceremony attended by Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism at Europe's biggest oil and gas trade show, 'SPE Offshore Europe 2015' in Aberdeen.  The new Python Subsea Wellhead, which has been under development since 2011 within a Joint Industry Project supported by companies including BG, Royal Dutch Shell, Wintershall, Maersk, TOTAL, Tullow Oil, eni, Senergy, and Oil States Industries Inc., has been launched to achieve a new best in class and safest standard for subsea wellheads, following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010.

The Python Subsea wellhead has been engineered to be simple, and yet offering a range of unique and superior technologically advanced features with increased safety, reduced cost and operational efficiency capabilities. The patented POS-GRIP friction grip method of engineering offers 'instant casing hanger lockdown' and is used to secure hangers with "HG" Seals which provide direct, metal to metal, weld quality, high integrity sealing.  Many conventional components used in competing conventional subsea wellhead designs such as lock rings and wear bushings are eliminated, resulting in enhanced reliability and fewer installation trips.

The Python launch also coincides with the successful completion of the key performance verification tests for the system.  Plexus have previously announced the completion of industry standard API 6A Annex F testing on Python, but can now announce that full system testing was also conducted to replicate real world field conditions and testing all of the components within the system working together which allowed the mapping of a safe "performance envelope" rather than just single performance points for some of the components.  Plexus tested the system at "worst case tolerance stack-up" between the components, proving that the system works with any selection of individual components, which is something not yet considered in best industry standards or for conventional equipment. 

Today's formal launch marks the first commercial availability of our POS-GRIP enabled subsea wellhead system, and Plexus is confident that Python will be ready for offshore deployment in a trial well during 2016. 

The Scottish Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism Mr. Fergus Ewing said, "This new technology will allow oil and gas companies around the world to increase the safety and reliability of their operations and it is a great testament to the skills and knowledge of Ben Van Bilderbeek and his team that the partners in the Joint Industry Project have developed this new system under the leadership of Plexus.

"At a time when the industry is facing greater challenges, innovations that can improve reliability and safety while helping to reduce costs are very much to be welcomed.  As one of the major players in the Scottish oil and gas sector, it is very encouraging to see Plexus continue to innovate and create revolutionary new products that will have an effect on the sector around the world. I wish Plexus every success with the new Python Wellhead System for the future."

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "I want to thank the honourable Fergus Ewing, our Scottish Minister for Industry, for taking the time to help us introduce the first proprietary 'Subsea Wellhead System' designed and developed in Scotland.  Today for me is the culmination of a career that started in Ventura California in 1971, 45 years ago, and now I stand at the cusp of my ambitions, which grew into a passion to deliver the 'best and safest' wellhead technology money can buy.

"Our ultimate goal, which now adds subsea wellheads to the 'best in class'  jack-up drilling system we supply around the world, is really quite simple to articulate.  For as long as oil and gas wells have been drilled, wellheads were allowed to be qualified to standard much below the quality expected from the well casing reaching deep into the ground.  The weak 'wellhead' link, over time became the unavoidable norm, which we at Plexus were never comfortable with. The idea that the last connection in a well, in terms of qualification would be of a lesser standard than other connections in the system, seemed to defy logic!

"Following the Gulf of Mexico offshore incident in April 2010, Plexus was asked by a leading group of operators to focus on the challenges presented by deep-water subsea drilling, high pressure and high temperature environments and most importantly Arctic drilling operations, where delicate environmental conditions demand the best and safest solutions.

"I am therefore pleased to unveil the Python Subsea Wellhead system, which has been the results of almost four years of research, development and engineering.

"I am very proud to be part of the Plexus team, who put their trust in me as much as I have in them, because I can assure you that many have spoken of the folly of challenging convention, against the might of internationally renowned competitors.

"There is much more to come from Plexus in terms of product development, which we can now bring to a very much wider market, and importantly with the help of our new trading partner in Jereh of Yantai, from China."

**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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