A change in attitude towards well safety among operators is helping drive Aberdeen engineering firm Plexus Holdings’ run of success, the company’s chairman has claimed.
The oil and gas engineering group said it was upping its dividend by 10% from last year after being boosted by a third consecutive year of record profits.
The company, recently raised more than £6.8million through a new share placing, has also picked up new contracts for 2014, revealed chairman Jerome Thrall.
“Since the financial year end we have already secured a new customer in Eni Australia Limited; a further HP/HT contract with Statoil Petroleum AS and also with Glencore Exploration Cameroon Ltd; and further standard pressure contracts with Centrica Energy Norway, BG International Egypt, and Centrica North Sea Gas Ltd,” he said.
A ‘paradigm shift’ among operators in the wake of the fatal Gulf of Mexico blow-out in 2010 was bringing about a better focus on safety of well systems, Thrall explained.
“Our business growth is being driven by what we believe is a fundamental change taking place within the industry aimed at ensuring that best practices and equipment are used at all stages of oil and gas exploration and production,” he said.
“This is increasingly becoming known as the use of best available and safest technology, and in the case of wellheads this focuses on long term wellhead integrity, particularly seal life, monitoring, and annular pressure management.
“This call for higher standards came into sharp focus following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico incident, which led to a heightened level of awareness among regulators and operators for the need to improve safety procedures and to select BAST equipment at all times.”
Speaking ahead of the company’s AGM, Thrall said the company was now looking for a suitable partner to run a prototype of its new joint industry project tie back system for high-pressure high temperature wells after completing final testing.
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