By Iain Packham
Oil and gas engineering services business Plexus Holdings PLC
(POS.LN) said Tuesday that ENI SpA (ENI.MI) and Oil States
International Inc. (OIS) have joined five other oil majors on its
Joint Industry Project to develop and commercialize a new and safer
subsea wellhead, utilizing Plexus' patented POS-GRIP
technology.
The two new partners join a list of leading industry players
that have signed up to the joint industry program, including A.P.
Moller-Maersk A/S (AMKBF) subsidiary, Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd.,
Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN), Wintershall AG, Tullow Oil PLC
(TLW.LN) SafeKick Ltd., and the U.K. entity of the world's largest
offshore drilling company.
Plexus said the project initiated in October 2010, is focused on
developing a new subsea wellhead, the HGSS, to address key
technical issues and requirements highlighted by regulators
following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010.
All members of the program will be contributing to the design
and engineering process with the intention that they potentially
become end-users and commercial partners once the wellhead has been
fully built, tested and commercialized.
The project is anticipated to take between 18 and 24 months from
the initiation date at a cost of around 1.5 million pounds ($2.4
million) to GBP2.0 million.
Any intellectual property generated by the project will be owned
by Plexus, it added.
"Recent well control incidents around the world have highlighted
the need for robust, high performance, subsea wellheads in oil and
gas operations, particularly in extreme and hostile environments,"
Plexus Chief Executive Ben Van Bilderbeek said.
"Our JIP subsea wellhead initiative is gaining considerable
momentum. Not only is the project progressing well and according to
plan but it continues to attract the active participation of major
companies in the oil and gas sector," Mr. Van Bilderbeek added.
Shares closed Monday at 106.0 pence.
Write to Iain Packham at iain.packham@dowjones.com