Tullow Oil Becomes Partner to Plexus’ JIP

Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® method of wellhead engineering, announces that Tullow Oil plc, a leading independent oil and gas explorer and producer, has 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 the news release dated 21 November 2011 announcing that Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., Wintershall Noordzee B.V., the UK entity of the world’s largest offshore drilling company and SafeKick Ltd had all signed up as consulting partners to the JIP.

Initiated in October 2010, the JIP is focussed on developing a new subsea wellhead, the HGSS™, which will be designed to address key technical issues and requirements highlightedby regulators following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010. The JIP will see key industry members contributing to the design and engineering process with the intention that they become end-users once the wellhead has been fully built, tested and commercialised. The project is anticipated to take between 18-24 months at a cost of approximately £1.5m to £2m. Any intellectual property generated by the project will be owned by Plexus.

Plexus’ CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, “Tullow Oil’s involvement in the JIP is another major endorsement of our new subsea wellhead initiative and of our team’s ability to design and develop pioneering wellhead technology in response to the rapidly changing needs of the oil and gas industry. Well control incidents around the world have highlighted the critical function of a wellhead in subsea oil and gas operations and the importance of seeking Best Available and Safest Technologies (‘BAST’). The new HGSS Subsea Wellhead is being developed to address key safety and performance functions, and we believe will become the BAST available for subsea operations and, in-turn, become the industry standard.

“Tullow Oil is recognised as one of the largest independent exploration and production companies in Europe and is a major participant in the subsea sector. With this in mind we look forward to working with Tullow, and the other major oil companies that have already joined the JIP over the next two years. Discussions with other international oil and gas operators regarding their joining the JIP continue. In the meantime our focus is on getting the project fully underway and to this end, we are currently finalising the composition of our dedicated subsea development and engineering team. We look forward to providing updates on our progress.”

 Further Information

Key features that Plexus is looking to incorporate into its 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

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Offshore Nieuws Staff, January 6, 2012