Ezion reported yesterday that it has secured a 5-year charter contract worth approximately $63.9 million to provide a service rig to an oil major for work in the Middle East. 

The service rig will be deployed to work in the offshore oil and gas fields in the Middle East before the end of 2014 after completing refurbishment and upgrading. Meanwhile, Ezion reported a net profit of $45.21 million, excluding disposal gain in first quarter 2013 (1Q 2013), in 1Q 2014, or 61.6 percent higher than the previous year's $27.97 million. Revenue rose 72.3 percent in the corresponding period to $94.43 million, with the increase attributed mainly to the chartering contribution from the deployment of additional units of service rigs. 

“The management is witnessing increased focus on platform and well related work by the oil majors in Asia Pacific, Middle East and West Africa. As a result ... the Group will continue to focus on investment in Service Rigs to meet the strong demand,” Chew Thiam Keng, Ezion’s CEO said in a press release.