OREANDA-NEWS. October 26, 2015. Plexus Holdings PLC, the AIM quoted oil and gas engineering services business and owner of the proprietary POS-GRIP® friction-grip method of wellhead engineering, announces the appointment of Lawrence P. Rucinski as President, North America, through his consultancy company Global Growth Partners LLC , initially for a minimum twelve month period. Mr Rucinski has over 30 years' experience in the subsea oil and gas sector having held several senior level leadership roles between 1984 through 2015 building FMC Technologies Inc. (NYSE:FTI) into a market leading global provider of wellhead equipment and services.

Most recently, Mr. Rucinski held the position of Director, Sales & Marketing for the Global Subsea business unit of FMC Technologies Inc. and will provide immediate added value to the Company's strategic planning, specifically in North America and Asia.  This initiative is in line with Plexus' expansion into the large and growing Deepwater subsea technology sector through the recent launch of the Company's POS-GRIP Python™ Subsea Wellhead at Offshore Europe 2015. By addressing key technical issues and safety requirements highlighted by regulators following the Gulf of Mexico incident in April 2010, Plexus' Python™ Subsea Wellhead will provide a new best in class standard, and offers significant operational cost savings for customers in addition to increased safely and reliability.

As President, North America, Mr. Rucinski offers expansive Engineering Procurement Construction ('EPC') systems solutions expertise, business leadership, and longstanding global relationships with oil and gas companies, which we anticipate will create commercial relationships in North America as Plexus begins to look at expanding its growing international presence into this important oil and gas region.  In addition, Mr. Rucinski will specifically leverage his experience in Asia to support the Plexus Asian team in China, in conjunction with the Company's agreement with Chinese licensing partner Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group ('Jereh'), a US\\$6.9bn oil services provider, and Plexus' shallow water subsea and crossover wellhead production system collaboration agreement between China Oilfield Services Limited, Red Subsea Technologies and Jereh. Mr. Rucinski will also support ongoing business with Petronas where Plexus secured a licence through its local Plexus Products Asia company Joint Venture to manufacture and supply Plexus' POS-GRIP wellhead equipment in Malaysia. 

Mr. Rucinski has a strong knowledge base for oil and gas activities in Asia evidenced by his role as FMC's Managing Director & General Manager - Asia & Middle East Region from 2005 to 2014.  During this period he was responsible for creating a subsea project delivery hub in Asia including new manufacturing, project management and engineering capabilities resulting in the need to recruit over 2,000 local employees. He successfully led FMC Technologies as it secured new EPC project contracts during this same period with a combined value over US\\$3 billion, including Shell Malaysia (Gumusut), Shell Australia (Prelude), Chevron Australia (Wheatstone), Eni Indonesia (Jangkrik) and multiple projects for Woodside in Australia (90+ wells installed in Northwest Shelf Development).

Plexus' CEO Ben Van Bilderbeek said, "We are delighted to welcome Lawrence as President, North America at this exciting time for Plexus as we expand our international relationships and the POS-GRIP product range, particularly in the subsea and production wellhead arenas. I believe his highly relevant deep-water experience and proven management track record in international and USA business development will be invaluable to us following the launch  of our new Python Subsea wellhead and look to secure commercial opportunities for this new wellhead standard over the coming years. Lawrence will work with our Non-Executive Director Charles Jones, also based in Houston, to provide the Plexus Board with timely and accurate feedback on and implications of key developments in Houston, to further align our strategic direction for North America.

"The Python Subsea Wellhead has been developed as part of an industry wide project supported by leading oil and gas operators including Shell, Total, Maersk, BG, Tullow and Wintershall to name a few.  We believe our product will be the safest, most technically advanced and cost efficient product on the market, and Lawrence clearly recognises its potential and superior technical and safety features. Following its launch we aim to replicate the success we have enjoyed with our POS-GRIP jack-up exploration applications, which already have a dominant position in the HP/HT sectors in the North Sea.

"We are building a leading global wellhead company for the long term, delivering best in class solutions for the exploration, production, subsea and HP/HT sectors to world-class oil and gas operators.  Although the widely reported current volatile trading conditions and depressed oil price are clearly impacting on the industry as a whole at the present time, I remain confident that looking beyond this challenging period our superior enabling POS-GRIP technology is uniquely positioned to continue to win our proven science based argument for the need for wellheads to match the same performance standards as premium couplings whether at the surface or subsea.  I believe that this will result in Plexus becoming a major global wellhead and associated equipment supplier, whether trading as a principal or through major licencing partners such as Jereh, and I look forward to providing further updates on our progress."