TIDMPOS
RNS Number : 9171T
Plexus Holdings Plc
20 December 2012
Plexus Holdings PLC / Index: AIM / Epic: POS / Sector: Oil
equipment & services
20 December 2012
Plexus Holdings PLC ('Plexus' or 'the Company')
Total becomes the seventh major oil and gas company to join the
new POS-GRIP(R) 'HGSS(TM)' Subsea Wellhead design development
project
Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering
services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP(R) method
of wellhead engineering, announces that the major worldwide French
oil and gas operator has through Total E&P Recherche
Developpement SAS ('Total') signed up as an additional consulting
partner to Plexus' Joint Industry Project ('JIP') to develop and
commercialise a new and safer subsea wellhead, utilising Plexus'
patented POS-GRIP technology.
This follows previous news releases dated 19 June 2012, 6
January 2012 and 21 November 2011 announcing that Maersk Oil North
Sea UK Ltd, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V.,
Wintershall Noordzee B.V., Tullow Oil, Eni S.p.A, Oil States
Industries Inc., and the UK entity of the world's largest offshore
drilling company, have all signed up as consulting partners to the
JIP.
The JIP is focussed on developing a new subsea wellhead, HGSS,
to address key technical issues and requirements highlighted by
regulators following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010. All
members of the JIP have been contributing to the design and
engineering process and attending regular JIP meetings, and it is
Plexus' goal that they will become end-users once the wellhead has
been fully built, tested and commercialised. Importantly, all
intellectual property generated by the JIP will be owned by Plexus,
and will be added to the Company's extensive and unchallenged
POS-GRIP patent suite.
The POS-GRIP HGSS(TM) subsea wellhead is currently being
designed to be safer and have fewer parts in the well bore than any
other competing system whilst also sealing and locking down hangers
as soon as cementing of the well is complete.
In terms of progress made to date, the technical specification
of the 'base product' has been finalised and detailed engineering
design is now underway. The conceptual detail of the subsea
hydraulics and interface with control systems is also complete and
the design of qualification test fixtures has begun. It is expected
that physical testing of various elements of the system will begin
in Q1 2013. The next stage will be to complete formal performance
verification testing, after which an opportunity to field test the
system will be sought. Commercially, it is highly encouraging that,
in addition to the range of safety and operational features that
are being engineered, initial assessments of the HGSS system also
show significant time savings on installation as being achievable
which would mean that, as with our HP/HT surface wellhead systems,
the installation time savings alone could be greater than the
capital value of the equipment.
Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "This is yet another
significant milestone and nod of industry approval for our subsea
HGSS JIP initiative to develop and commercialise a new and safer
subsea wellhead, utilising Plexus' patented POS-GRIP technology.
Recent well control incidents around the world have highlighted the
need for robust, high performance, subsea wellheads in oil and gas
operations, particularly in extreme and hostile environments.
Plexus, with its patented and proven POS-GRIP technology, is
ideally suited to deliver a range of innovative features.
"This is the first time Plexus will be working alongside Total
and we are delighted to welcome them on board this project. I
believe at this point of the development of the new subsea
wellhead, we have an exceptionally strong industry team working
together with the common goal of designing and commercialising a
new subsea wellhead design that has the potential of becoming a new
standard. It is hoped that Total, alongside our other JIP partners,
will become an end user of the HGSS wellhead.
"In addition to the JIP, Plexus is already the leading
specialised wellhead services company within the HP/HT wellhead
arena in the North Sea; we are actively expanding our geographic
reach in the wider international arena to areas such as Africa,
Asia, Australia, and Russia; and we are also designing a new
'Tieback wellhead system' which will utilise Plexus' metal-to-metal
'HG'(R) seals, allowing for the first time HP/HT exploration wells
and pre-drilled production wells to be converted into either subsea
or platform producing wells. With all this in mind, I look forward
to updating the market on our progress in due course."
Further Information
Key features that Plexus and the JIP partners are working
towards incorporating into the new POS-GRIP HGSS subsea wellhead
design include:
-- 18-3/4" full bore system, rated to 15,000 psi 350 deg F
-- Upgradeable to 20,000 psi, 450 deg F
-- 4,000,000 lbs 'instant' casing hanger lockdown capacity
-- Avoidance of acknowledged problems associated with use of lock down rings
-- Annulus monitoring and bleed-off capability to address
sustained casing pressure ('SCP') situations, with diagnostic and
remedial capability
-- Ability to open and reseal the casing annulus to enable remedial cement job procedures
-- Rigid metal annular seal technology qualified to match the
standards for premium casing couplings
-- Meeting the requirements of API 17D/ISO 13628-4, recently
provided additional operator requirements, and Plexus 'life cycle'
testing
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.posgrip.com or
contact:
Ben van Bilderbeek Plexus Holdings PLC Tel: 020 7795 6890
Graham Stevens Plexus Holdings PLC Tel: 020 7795 6890
Jon Fitzpatrick Cenkos Securities PLC Tel: 020 7397 8900
Ken Fleming Cenkos Securities PLC Tel: 0131 220 6939
Felicity Edwards St Brides Media & Finance Tel: 020 7236 1177
Ltd
Frank Buhagiar St Brides Media & Finance Tel: 020 7236 1177
Ltd
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(R), 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(TM),
utilising its friction-grip technology in collaboration with key
oil and gas operators and service companies. Royal Dutch Shell,
Wintershall, Maersk, Tullow Oil 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. Development is expected to be
completed by mid 2013 calendar year.
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.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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