Cameron Jack-Up Exploration Wellhead Agreements

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

This announcement contains inside information

Plexus Holdings PLC ("Plexus" or "Company")

Cameron, a Schlumberger company ("Cameron")

Plexus and Cameron enter into Jack-Up Exploration (Adjustable) Wellhead Agreements

Plexus, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business, is pleased to announce that it has entered into Cooperation Agreements with Cameron, which will result in a commercial opportunity by enabling Plexus to return to the Jack-Up Exploration (Adjustable) Wellhead rental business for jack-up applications with proven technology.

Highlights

·    Plexus to re-enter the Jack-up Exploration (Adjustable) Rental Wellhead market, with Exact* adjustable wellhead system, Centric* mudline suspension wellhead system and Fontus Explorer* configurable exploration wellhead system;

·    Cameron to licence and transfer Plexus' original designed Exact-15 ("Exact") system rental wellhead inventory and Centric-15 ("Centric") mudline system equipment, as well as provide manufacturing support and assist in sales leads generation in return for a licence royalty fee;

·    The 'through the BOP' ("Blow-out Preventer") wellhead systems offer improved rig personnel safety by enabling the BOP to be kept in place during operations and thereby reducing the risk of blow outs.

·    The Cooperation Agreements are in line with Plexus' strategy, which is to create a portfolio of revenue streams and builds on:

o  an existing licensing agreement with Cameron, for Plexus' POS-GRIP® method of wellhead engineering, to be used on conventional and unconventional surface production oil and gas wells;

o  a collaboration agreement with TFMC, which provides a platform to further develop and commercialise POS-GRIP applications;

o  a licensing agreement with Gusar for Plexus' POS-GRIP wellhead equipment to be supplied to the Russian and CIS markets; and

o  the organic development and marketing of Plexus' POS-GRIP wellhead applications for any type of wellhead, aimed at meeting demand for guaranteed 'leak-free' seal technology and performance.

The Cooperation Agreements see Plexus re-enter Jack-up Exploration (adjustable) Wellhead Rental Market

Under the terms of the Cooperation Agreements, Cameron will license Plexus to be the sole providers of Exact-15 wellhead system, Fontus Explorer wellhead system, and Centric-15 wellhead system and all related systems for jack-up exploration drilling. Cameron will contribute Exact-15 wellhead systems, Exact-10 wellhead systems, as well as its existing inventory of Centric-15 mudline suspension equipment to kick-start the business relationship and will also manufacture additional inventory of the equipment as required. Cameron will also help to provide Plexus with sales leads and market insight through a formal Sales Advisory Board. Plexus will contract directly with customers, manage the full job execution cycle using its in-house field technicians and infrastructure, and will assume responsibility for the maintenance, repairs and logistics of the equipment provided. Plexus will pay Cameron a licence royalty fee based on revenue generated from the sale and rental of the licenced equipment.

Plexus has a very strong reputation and history in the Jack-up Exploration Wellhead market, and these Cooperation Agreements mean that Plexus will immediately have the right product range to offer customers the excellence of service that they are familiar with from Plexus, in the Jack-up Exploration market once again. As before, the attention to detail that Plexus can offer customers on a per well basis, together with the agility to quickly adapt to a project's unique requirements, will help the rapid roll out these products and services to the market.

Benefits of 'Through the BOP' technology

A key feature of the Exact-15 and Fontus Explorer wellhead system technology is that they enable 'through the BOP' operations, even when used with Mudline Suspension equipment. The adjustable hangers mean that the blow-out preventor does not need to be removed when landing casing or setting seals. The "through the BOP" capability brings significant time savings to drilling operations, which can exceed the entire cost of the wellhead equipment, making this type of technology highly commercially advantageous.

Plexus and Cameron relationship

 The signing of these Cooperation Agreements follows on from the November 2020 surface production wellhead licence, through which Plexus has completed a technology transfer with Cameron and is now supporting Cameron's efforts to develop its own production wellhead products using Plexus' POS-GRIP Technology (Cameron remains in the conventional exploration wellhead business.).

Plexus' CEO Ben van Bilderbeek commented: "I am excited that Plexus is re-entering the Jack-up Exploration Wellhead Rental Market with technology that we pioneered years ago. I believe that this will be a win-win-win for ourselves, for Cameron and for the oil and gas industry. 

"For Plexus, this initiative provides an excellent opportunity to add an important revenue stream to our portfolio, alongside our own organic business, the surface production wellhead licencing agreement with Cameron, and the agreement with Gusar, which covers our POS-GRIP technology for the Russian and CIS markets. 

"Unlike our previous jack-up exploration rental business, where we were able to establish a reputation as the go-to supplier from a standing start, we will now be competing against our historic POS-GRIP systems, which of course is a technology we know very well.

"As the exploration market cycles upward again, we anticipate that there will be ample opportunities to support our growth, and we believe that the agility and flexibility that our customers know us for will help to capture a healthy share of this market.

"We have already identified exploration opportunities that we can now go after with our latest jack-up exploration offering, and we look forward to updating the market as these opportunities develop." 

*Mark of Schlumberger

**ENDS**

For further information please visit www.posgrip.com or contact:

NOTES:

AIM-traded oil and gas engineering services company Plexus (AIM: POS) is an IP led company that has developed a range of products and applications based on its patent-protected POS-GRIP friction-grip technology.  Plexus has in July 2021 been recognised by the London Stock Exchange as contributing to the global green economy by deriving more than 50% of revenues from environmental solutions.  Plexus has been protecting the environment for over 30 years, initially with its 'through the BOP' (Blow Out Preventer) wellhead designs and subsequently with its POS-GRIP® proprietary metal-to-metal leak-proof wellhead sealing system.

Having proved the superior qualities of POS-GRIP within the jack-up wellhead exploration market through the sale of this business to FMC Technologies Limited, a subsidiary of TechnipFMC (Paris:FTI, NYSE:FTI) (jointly "TFMC"), in early 2018, the Company is now focused on establishing its technology and equipment in other markets including surface production wellheads, subsea and de-commissioning, both organically and through licence partners.  In line with this, in November 2020 Plexus entered into a licence agreement with Cameron International Limited, which grants the Schlumberger group company a non-exclusive licence to use the POS-GRIP and HG® metal-to-metal seal method of wellhead engineering for the development of conventional and unconventional oil and gas surface wellheads.

Plexus' suite of ongoing products and applications include: "HG" wellheads, which combine POS-GRIP technology with gas tight leak free metal sealing; the Python® subsea wellhead (a new standard for subsea wellheads - developed in a Joint Industry Project supported by Royal Dutch Shell, BG (now owned by Shell), Wintershall, Total, Maersk (now owned by Total), Tullow Oil, eni, Senergy (now Lloyds register), and Oil States Industries Inc); the POS-SET™ connector for the growing de-commissioning and abandonment market; and Tersus-PCT, an innovative HP/HT tie back connector product. The Company also has a collaboration agreement in place with TFMC, which provides a platform to further develop and commercialise these and other applications based on its POS-GRIP technology.