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PLEXUS HOLDINGS (AIM:POS) Huge vote of confidence for the Group’s new subsea wellhead
Posted 22/11/11
The AIM quoted oil and gas engineering group announced yesterday that four major oil and gas companies have joined Plexus’ Joint Industry Project for the development of the new POS-GRIP ‘HGSS™’ Subsea Wellhead. The move into subsea opens uop a world of opportunity
Maersk Oil North Sea, Shell International Exploration and Production, Wintershall Noordzee and the UK entity of the world’s largest offshore drilling company, and oil and gas technology solution consultancy SafeKick Ltd (http://www.safekick.com) have all signed up as consulting partners to develop and commercialise a new and safer subsea wellhead using Plexus’ patented POS-GRIP technology.
In addition Plexus is in advanced discussions with three further international oil and gas operators regarding joining the JIP project, and expects to provide an update on this in due course.
The new ‘HGSS’™ subsea wellhead will be designed to address key technical issues and requirements highlighted following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010 with the total project cost over a two year period estimated at £1.5m to £2m.
Management highlighted how recent well control incidents around the world (note last week’s Brazilian spill) have raised awareness surrounding the critical function of a wellhead in subsea oil and gas operations, and also highlighted the need for a step change in safety and performance standards.
Estimates are for a staggering US$225bn to be spent in the subsea market between 2011-2015 and that 30% of all goods and services supplied to the subsea sector will come from the UK.
Up until now the Group’s main focus has been in the significantly smaller global jack-up rig exploration market so a move into the massive subsea market presents a massive opportunity.
For the year to 30th June 2011 Plexus achieved a 144% increase in profit before tax to £1.57m on revenue up 17% to £15.42m.
Forecasts for the year ending June 2012 are currently for pre-tax profits of £2.8m and earnings per share of 2.5p, however, this is surely largely irrelevant compared to what is achievable should the Group’s wellhead technology gain universal support from the oil majors.
Exciting times ahead!
This entry was posted 6 months ago.
