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, has secured a three year agreement with a leading global oil and gas producer for relief well standby wellhead equipment.
Plexus will provide High Pressure/ High Temperature POS-GRIP adjustable wellhead equipment and mudline casing support on a standby basis. This forms part of contingency planning in the event that a relief well is needed during the oil and gas development programme in the UK North Sea. Additionally, Plexus will supply wellhead equipment for the drilling of a high pressure/ high temperature (‘HP/HT’) well, also in the North Sea and optional sidetracks. Plexus estimates that the agreement, which is subject to finalisation of contract terms, is likely to be worth in excess of £6m with revenues starting in July 2012.
Due to increasing pressures for spill response and well control contingencies, both from regulators and from within the oil and gas industry, the operator has chosen to ensure that suitable HP/HT wellhead equipment is available should there be a need to drill a relief well in the event of an incident during the development of the HP/HT oil and gas field. Plexus’ 18-3/4″ 15,000 psi wellhead equipment with mudline suspension casing support will be reserved on stand-by and maintained by Plexus in a ready to deploy state for the contract period.
Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and believe it illustrates the increasing pressure faced by oil and gas operators to follow best practice in terms of response contingency planning capability. This is the first contract of this kind for Plexus, where wellhead equipment will be on permanent stand-by for a customer in the event that a relief well is needed. As a leading supplier of superior HP/HT wellhead equipment in the North Sea market, we believe that with safety standards and regulations set to become more stringent over the coming years, this could potentially be a significant new business area for Plexus to further develop and pursue.”
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , June 26, 2012; Image: Plexus