Plexus Holdings has entered into a license agreement with Russian Gusar and Konar for the rental, manufacture and servicing of Plexus’ jack-up drilling wellhead exploration equipment into the Russian Federation and the other CIS states oil and gas markets.

Entry into the Russian Federation and other CIS states follows on from the licence agreement between Plexus and Jereh, signed in July 2015, to facilitate the rental, sale, and manufacture of Plexus’ wellhead equipment into the major Chinese, wider Asian, Brazilian, Indian and Middle Eastern oil and gas markets.

Under the licence agreement Gusar has been granted an exclusive licence to manufacture, market and supply Plexus’ POS-GRIP® Jack-up Rental Wellhead Systems and associated products, and to utilise certain of Plexus’ trademarks, patents, technology, know-how and other intellectual property and technical services, the company explained.

Gusar and Konar have also been granted a joint exclusive licence to manufacture, market, supply and service Plexus’ Connectors.

Reportedly, both Gusar and Konar will make a quarterly royalty payment to Plexus based on the invoice value on all Plexus products sold, rented or supplied by Gusar and/or Konar.

Plexus’ CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, “Russia, according to the EIA, was the third largest producer of petroleum and other liquids in 2014 and holds almost a quarter of the world’s proven natural gas reserves and 5% of global crude reserves. With gas forming the lion’s share of the Russian energy sector, and our equipment being ideally suited to the high pressures and high temperatures associated with gas wells, we are excited to be entering this key market through our partnership with Konar and Gusar, two established and highly reputable local suppliers. Any hydrocarbon leaks at sea potentially have no international borders, hence using the safest available equipment is paramount for the safety of the environment not only locally but further afield. We look forward to commencing work with Gusar and Konar and establishing a sizeable business in Russia and the CIS. Furthermore in addition to this initial licencing agreement we will be actively pursuing the extension of this agreement to include additional POS-GRIP equipment applications.”

Gusar and Konar, Plexus’ licencing agreement partners, said, “We are delighted to announce this exciting new venture with Plexus, which will see both of our oil and gas equipment manufacturing facilities supplying Plexus’ best in class POS-GRIP wellhead technology to be made in Russia.

“As extracting hard-to-reach oil and gas goes deeper and becomes more complex, particularly in high pressure and high temperature (HP/HT) environments; innovative, safe and effective wellhead technology is becoming increasingly important. In this vein, we believe Plexus’ products are ideally suited for the Russian market both in terms of its existing needs and, in the future, for Artic exploration where there are ecological considerations as well as unique technical challenges. This is due to Plexus’ equipment offering superior safety and operational features, particularly with regard to metal-to-metal sealing capabilities and unique high testing standards capabilities matching those of premium couplings, which is so important for HP/HT drilling conditions.

“We look forward to working with Plexus and are confident that this partnership will expand our service and product offering for our oil and gas customers.”