(EnergyAsia, January 20 2012, Friday) --- EOC Limited (EOC), a Singapore-based provider of offshore services to oil and gas producers, said its FY2012 Q1 net profit surged more than 14 times to US$8.5 million over the same period the previous year.
 
Boosted by strong performances at both its construction and production divisions, the company said revenue for the quarter to November 2011 was up by 159% to US$60.8 million year-on-year.

The full utilisation of its fleet and a strong maiden contribution from the Lewek EMAS, its second floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, helped its net profit increase. The Lewek EMAS, in which EOC holds a 41.7% stake through PV KEEZ Pte Ltd, contributed about US$1 million to the bottomline over the six weeks that it became operational.

Lim Kwee Keong, EOC’s group CEO, said:

“This set of results reflects our ongoing efforts to strategically grow the group’s recurrent income base and improve earnings visibility.

“In the construction division, we have been concentrating on longer-term leasing contracts instead of the previous lump-sum offshore engineering, procurement and installation projects for which our margins are lower in today’s market. Furthermore, we are working on opportunities throughout the value chain of the floating production segment, either on our own or jointly with strategic partners.”

Two of EOC’s construction vessels – the Lewek Champion, its heavy-lift pipelay vessel, and the Lewek Conqueror, an accommodation work barge – have been chartered out on a long-term basis. Another accommodation barge, Lewek Chancellor, has been deployed in West Africa.

Mr Lim said: “Exploration and production spending by oil majors, as well as national and independent oil companies, is expected to remain strong in 2012, underpinned by firm crude oil prices. This feeds into a stream of contract opportunities for EOC, for the provision of FPSOs and associated operations and maintenance services, as well as offshore construction work.

“For our production division, our first FPSO, the Lewek Arunothai, recently concluded charter in Thailand, and we are assessing a number of redeployment opportunities.”