Expro Unveils Its Most Advanced Brute® Packer System for Deepwater Wells

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 23, 2025--

Expro (NYSE:XPRO), a leading provider of energy services, has launched its most advanced BRUTE ® High-Pressure, High Tensile Packer System, designed to help operators work more efficiently and confidently in the extreme conditions of deepwater wells. Engineered for the highest differential pressures in the market, this new technology gives operators the flexibility to set higher in the wellbore - saving rig time, reducing operational risk, and simplifying regulatory compliance.

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The introduction of the BRUTE ® Armor Packer marks a major milestone in the continued evolution of Expro’s BRUTE ® product line. With unmatched versatility, this innovation positions Expro as the only provider capable of supporting 20k deepwater projects at this level. When deployed with the BRUTE ® 2 Storm Valve, it forms the industry’s highest-rated Storm/Service Packer and Valve combination currently available.

As a recognized leader in deepwater downhole solutions, Expro was commissioned by a super-major energy company for a high-spec 20k development in the Gulf of America. The inaugural use of the technology confirmed its pressure integrity and performance under extreme downhole conditions resulting in the release and first successful deployment of the 12,850 psid-rated 12.25” BRUTE ® Armor Packer System in April 2025.

Building on the successful deployment of the 12.25” Packer System, Expro has also introduced a new 20”/22” Packer System addressing historical challenges of 20” and 22” retrievable mechanical packer systems, often constrained by internal diameter (ID) limitations, such as subsea high-pressure wellhead housings and supplemental casing adapters. Featuring twice the element expansion capability of traditional mechanical packers, the new system delivers efficient, reliable performance for casing testing, suspension, and squeeze applications, all without compromising operational effectiveness.

The first deployment of the 20”/22” Packer System recently took place in June 2025, during a high-profile offshore campaign for a super-major operator in the Gulf of America. The packer passed through restrictions in the high-pressure wellhead housing and supplemental casing adapter before being installed in a larger ID below both components. It achieved full element expansion and pressure integrity on the first attempt validating the tool’s enhanced expansion capability, enabling efficient casing isolation while reducing rig time and operational risk.

Jeremy Angelle, Vice President of Well Construction commented: “This launch firmly establishes Expro’s BRUTE ® Packers as the industry benchmark for deepwater storm and test packers in terms of pressure and tensile strength. The modular toolset provides unparalleled flexibility, making it the most adaptable solution on the market and positions Expro as the partner of choice for next-generation 20k deepwater developments.

“We’re not just meeting the industry's toughest standards - we're defining them.”

Notes to Editors

Working for clients across the 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 approximately 8,500 employees and provides services and solutions to leading exploration and production companies in both onshore and offshore environments in more than 50 countries.

For more information, please visit and connect with Expro on 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 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, safety, efficiency and sustainability of the Company’s well construction technologies, the Company’s environmental, social and governance goals, targets and initiatives, and future 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.

Brute Armor

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.

The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)