A BOOM in oil and gas exploration activity in response to soaring energy prices is making it increasingly hard for smaller independent firms to get access to rigs in the North Sea, according to a Scottish specialist.
Shares in Plexus Holdings plunged 11percent after the Aberdeen-based services firm said sales of its wellhead technology would be affected this year by delays in getting projects started.
Small independent exploration and production firms provide a key market for the specialised sealant technology developed by Plexus for use in oil and gas wells.
However, with rigs being shifted to drill plum prospects overseas independents have been finding it harder to get them for use off Scotland, or had to accept big increases in rental rates.
While the rig shortage will impact on Plexus in the current year, the company said it expected to benefit from future increases in rig availability. The company has continued to win contracts in specialised areas such as high pressure and high temperature wells.
It expects to be a beneficiary of the trend for oil and gas companies to drill increasingly challenging environments as they try to meet booming demand.
Shares in the company slipped 11p to 87.5p. That compares with an issue price of 75p when Plexus floated on the Alternative Investment Market last December.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article