Shares in Aberdeen firm Plexus Holdings shot up more than 18% yesterday after the latest in a string of announcements this week.
The oilfield technology company unveiled plans to expand into the important and growing Chinese energy market after striking a deal with a major Chinese oil services group.
Plexus, whose innovative Pos-Grip wellhead technology has been used in more than 300 wells globally by the likes of BG, BHP Billiton, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Tullow Oil, and Wintershall, said it had signed the framework agreement with Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Company.
“The two parties will now work together to formalise a binding license agreement to enable Jereh to manufacture and sell Plexus’s wellhead equipment to the Chinese and wider Asian oil and gas markets,” Alternative Investment Market-listed Plexus added.
The north-east firm, which announced record first half results on Tuesday and then a first order in the global decommissioning market – an £800,000 deal with Centrica on Wednesday, said it was giving Jereh an exclusive licence in China and other Asian countries to manufacture and supply its products.
In return, Jereh is taking a 5% stake in Plexus and will have the right to appoint a non-executive director to its board.
Plexus chief executive Ben Van Bilderbeek said: “We view China and Asia as one of the key global market opportunities for Plexus, and we believe that our Pos-Grip wellhead equipment will deliver operational time savings and safety benefits to the oil and gas companies operating in the region.”