Profitfor the first three months of 2014 rose to SGD 122m ($97m) compared to SGD 119mthrough the same period of last year.

Sembcorpsaid the increase was mainly down to rig building and other offshore projects.

TheSembcorp group has a net order book of SGD 12.9bn stretching out to 2019including some SGD 1.6bn of orders secured since the start of this year.

“Longterm fundamentals driving the offshore exploration and production market remainstable, underpinned by firm oil prices,” Sembcorp said in a statement to theSingapore stock exchange.

Sembcorpsaid