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, has announced it has been awarded a contract with Centrica North Sea Limited to supply its POS-GRIP “HG” 10,000 psi adjustable production wellhead for a gas production well in the UK Southern North Sea. Plexus has previously supplied Centrica with its best in class wellhead equipment for a number of exploration wells in the North Sea, but this contract represents the first order it has been awarded by Centrica for a production well.

The Centrica purchase order is in line with the Company’s strategy to extend the application of its POS-GRIP technology beyond jack-up exploration, where it has been used on over 300 wells. Although Plexus has previously supplied its wellheads for production wells, including on the BP Amethyst gas field in the Southern North Sea in 2006, it has not to date been a main area of focus even, though the size of the market is many times that of jack-up exploration.

Under the terms of the contract, Plexus will supply Centrica with its 18-3/4-inch 10,000 psi wellhead and manage the interface with an existing production Xmas tree. In addition, the Company’s Tersus CS casing support system and associated running tools and services will also be supplied to Centrica, and well integrity will be enhanced as the adjustable nature of POS-GRIP allows downhole casing support to be used without casing adjustment subs to space out to the wellhead. The well will enhance production from the Chiswick platform in the UK Southern North Sea, and is due to spud around April 2018.

This order extends Plexus’ good working relationship with Centrica with whom it has a 4-year framework contract in place, and demonstrates the Company’s ability to deliver a suitable system within the specified time frame.

Plexus’ CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek says, “We are delighted to have secured a first order for a production well with Centrica. Plexus is an IP led company and our business model has always been centred on first proving the superior qualities of our proprietary POS-GRIP technology in terms of performance, reliability and safety in the jack-up exploration market, where wells are temporary in nature, before moving into other markets such as production, where wellheads are required for the entire field life of the well. Our technology has to date been used on over 400 jack-up exploration wells by a blue-chip roster of operators including Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, BP and Centrica many of whom have become long-standing customers of Plexus.”

“We are now in addition looking to achieve the same success in other applications where we have a suite of POS-GRIP products that are available for deployment or will be developed such as subsea, geothermal and fracking. I look forward to providing further updates on our progress, as we look to realise the full potential of our innovative and superior technology which is particularly suitable for gas applications which is becoming increasingly important as an energy source when compared to coal and oil,” adds Van Bilderbeek.

Tags: Centrica North Sea Limited, Plexus Holdings PLC