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Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® method of wellhead engineering, has signed an agreement to supply as the end user LLC Gazflot ('Gazflot'), a subsidiary of leading Russian oil and gas company Gazprom, with its proprietary TRT-S™ mudline suspension ('MLS') equipment for oil and gas exploration drilling activities for one well offshore West Kamchatka in the Magadan Basin in the Okhotsk Sea, Russia. The contract for the supply of both MLS and service is worth approximately $500,000 USD, and is expected to be completed by November 2011.
Plexus' patented TRT-S MLS equipment enables jack-up drilling rigs to transfer casing loads from a rig to the sea bed whilst allowing for a subsequent planned disengagement and possible suspension platform tieback options for a wellhead system. Due to climate conditions in the West Kamchatka region drilling activities for the well can only be conducted from May to September. However it is anticipated that additional wells will be drilled in 2012, of which Plexus is hopeful to tender both MLS services and potentially for the supply of its POS-GRIP surface wellhead equipment technology.
Plexus CEO Ben van Bilderbeek said, "This contract marks yet another geographic milestone in Plexus' growth strategy as it continues to develop into an internationally recognised force in the supply of specialised and technically superior oil and gas wellhead and equipment services. Not only is Gazflot a new customer for the Company, Russia is also a new region for us and one in which Plexus is focussed on gaining a foothold in given the ever increasing number of opportunities with large operators active in the Russian Artic Shelf such as Rosneft and Lukoil.
"I would also like to highlight that our equipment allows the removal of temporary abandonment caps through the blow out preventer ('BOP'), and for tie back to occur before the abandonment caps are removed. The importance of such an essential safety feature was formally recognised by the Montara Commission of Inquiry Report in June 2010 in relation to the oil spill incident offshore Australia in late 2009."
Under the terms of the agreement, Plexus has taken the opportunity to apply for both Gost R and Permit Roztechnadzor Certification not only for the supply of its proprietary MLS equipment to Gazflot, but also for the full range of POS-GRIP wellhead equipment. Gaining such certification is a requirement for operating in Russia and has to be issued for each type of technological equipment used at potentially hazardous manufacturing facilities.
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