SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd. (S51.SG), one of the world's largest rig builders by market share, Friday reported a 24% increase in its first-quarter net profit and posted a positive outlook for the global oil industry that will help its earnings prospects for the year.

The marine engineering arm of conglomerate Sembcorp Industries Ltd. (U96.SG) said net profit for the three months ended March 31 rose to S$148.8 million from S$120.2 million a year earlier, helped by higher operating margins from its rig building and offshore and conversion projects.

Revenue was flat at S$1.36 billion.

"The outlook for global oil demand continues to improve. Oil prices have fluctuated within the range of mid-US$70 to mid-US$80 a barrel. The long-term fundamentals driving deepwater exploration and production activities are expected to continue to boost production reserves to meet growing energy demand," the company said in a statement.

"The group expects to achieve satisfactory results for financial year 2010," the company said.

Sembcorp Marine also said the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may affect offshore drilling in that region although it is too early to assess the incident's overall effect on the drilling market.

"Our initial appraisal of the situation gives us no major cause for immediate concern," Sembcorp Marine said.

Revenue from its rig building operations rose 16.7% from a year earlier to S$886.5 million, while its offshore and conversion business fetched a revenue of S$319.8 million, down 20.2% on year. It didn't give the operating margins for the two businesses.

Sembcorp Marine said its ship repair business saw revenue drop 26.7% from a year earlier to S$143.7 million.

Sembcorp Marine has a net order book of S$5 billion with completion and deliveries stretching until December 2012.

-By P.R. Venkat, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 152; venkat.pr@dowjones.com