Expro Partners With Petrobras for Development of New Flowmeter Technology

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 12, 2024--

Expro (NYSE: XPRO), a leading provider of energy services, has signed a technology agreement (ETEC) with Petrobras for the development of a new non-intrusive flowmeter.

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The technology will provide flow rates and identify flow patterns, generating online and real-time data availability for control and monitoring of slug instabilities to increase efficiency and optimize production of wells.

The key requirement in this technology development is the non-intrusive aspect of the clamp-on design, as well as the absence of any radioactive source. The first prototype is expected to be installed by Q3 2027.

Talking on the agreement, Gregorio Rodrigues, Expro Vice President of Well Flow Management, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Petrobras to continue providing metering solutions, across Brazil. Expro has been at the forefront of pioneering Mobile Fiscal Metering packages, successfully performing flow metering in over 1,000 wells for a number of clients, including Petrobras. We are dedicated to consistently innovating with purpose, and this agreement is a testament to our commitment to being a technology-driven company.

“The new flowmeter can target multiple scenarios where currently there are challenges understanding the flow pattern and enable the client to adjust the parameters in an effort to optimize the production of the wells on an individual basis. Further developments will allow the solution to be utilized in multiple applications.”

Roberta Mendes, Petrobras General Manager for R&D&I in Exploration and Production, commented, “We are hopeful about the development of the technology, which will upgrade the optimization of production from producing wells. The technology has the potential to increase production, especially in slug flow scenarios, and it has the premise of easy implementation in the company's facilities, both onshore and offshore.”

Expro

Working for clients across the entire well life cycle, Expro is a leading provider of energy services, offering cost-effective, innovative solutions and what the Company considers to be best-in-class safety and service quality. The Company’s extensive portfolio of capabilities spans well construction, well flow management, subsea well access, and well intervention and integrity solutions.

With roots dating to 1938, Expro has more than 8,500 employees and provides services and solutions to leading exploration and production companies in both onshore and offshore environments in approximately 60 countries.

For more information, please visit expro.com and connect with Expro on X (formerly Twitter) @ExproGroup and LinkedIn @Expro.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Expro Group Holdings N.V. (“the Company”), may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding, among other things, the success of the new flowmeter technology and the Company’s future business strategy and prospects for growth, and are indicated by words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “outlook,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “believe,” “envision,” “goal,” “target,” “can,” “will,” and similar words or phrases. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based largely on the Company’s expectations and judgments and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are unforeseeable and beyond our control. The factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to materially differ include, among others the risk factors identified in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, historical practice, or otherwise.

Clamp-on flowmeter (Photo: Business Wire)

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong judge on Thursday convicted seven people, including a pro-democracy former lawmaker, of rioting during mob violence at a subway station at the height of the city’s anti-government protests in July 2019.

Prosecutors accused former legislator Lam Cheuk-ting and the six other defendants of provoking members of a group of about 100 men armed with wooden poles and metal rods who attacked protesters and bystanders at a train station. The men, all clad in white shirts, in contrast with the black worn by protesters, claimed to be protecting their homeland in Yuen Long, a residential district in Hong Kong's New Territories.

Dozens of people, including Lam, were injured in the violence, a key chapter that escalated the protest movement as the public criticized police for their delayed response. The landmark ruling could shape the city's historical narrative of the incident.

Judge Stanley Chan ruled that Lam was not acting as a mediator as he had claimed, but rather was trying to exploit the situation for political gain.

He said Lam's words directed at the white-shirted men had “fanned the flames."

The seven defendants are expected to be sentenced in February. Several members of the public sitting in the gallery cried after hearing the verdicts. Others waved at the defendants, with one shouting to Lam, “Hang in there, Ting!” Lam appeared to be at ease.

The prosecution alleged the defendants had either berated the white-shirted men, used obscene hand gestures, hurled objects or shot jets of water at them with a hosepipe.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the rioting charge.

During the trial, Lam said he chose to go to Yuen Long because he hoped his then position as a lawmaker could pressure the police to act quickly. He said he could not leave the scene while fellow residents were in danger. Some defendants who targeted the white-shirted men with a hosepipe argued that they were just trying to stop the attackers from advancing.

Chan, the judge, rejected the arguments of some defendants that they acted in self-defense.

The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.

The social movement was the biggest challenge to the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. In response, Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, leading to the arrest of many activists. Others were silenced or went into exile.

In November, Lam was sentenced to six years and nine months in jail in the city's biggest national security case.

More than 10,000 people were arrested in connection to the protests for various crimes, such as rioting and participating in an unauthorized assembly. About 10 white-shirted men were convicted in other cases related to the mob violence in July 2019, local media reported.

Journalists wait outside District Court in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, ahead of its verdicts on a landmark riot case involving a former pro-democracy lawmaker on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Kanis Leung)

FILE- A pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, center, gestures with five fingers, signifying the "Five demands - not one less" as he is surrounded by riot police during a news conference to mark one-year anniversary of the Yuen Long subway attack at the subway station in Hong Kong, July 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)