KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Sapura Energy Bhd said today its business outlook is "encouraging" in the next 12 months, as the oil and gas support services provider has seen a lot of opportunities to drive profitability and asset utilisation.

Sapura Energy president and group chief executive officer Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin said its current orderbook of RM17.3 billion is at its highest in two years as Brent crude oil trades above US$60 a barrel. He said Sapura Energy expects Brent crude oil prices to hover at US$60 to US$65 a barrel in the next two years, which is positive for the company's prospects.

"We are targeting to have another RM3 billion more order book [for this year]. We will be comfortable to be at RM21 to RM22 billion, so we need to work a lot harder," he said at a press conference after Sapura Energy's annual general meeting here today.

"I believe oil prices will be around US$60 to US$65 per barrel in next couple of years. But, it is enough for the sustainability for oil companies to approve their development programmes. Actually, we are seeing that (business activities) in the number of bids that we been invited to go into," Shahril said.

Reuters reported today that oil prices were mixed on Thursday with US crude extending losses after falling in the previous session after data showed US stockpiles of products like gasoline rose sharply last week, suggesting weak demand during the peak driving season.

It was reported that Brent crude futures were up 6 cents, or 0.1%, at US$63.72 a barrel by 0333 GMT after falling 1.1% on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 8 cents, or 0.1%, at US$56.7 after dropping 1.5% in the previous session.

At Bursa Malaysia today, Sapura Energy shares fell 0.5 sen or 1.64% to 30 sen at 3:45pm for a market capitalisation of RM4.86 billion. The stock saw 28.73 million units traded.