Ezra (5DN.SG) is +2.4% at $1.71, a three-week high, as it continues to recover from a nearly seven-month low of $1.63 touched earlier in December.

The offshore oil and gas support company has underperformed peers, down 8.2% since 2H10’s start, compared with the FTSE ST Oil & Gas Index’s +23.8%, partly on disappointment with its quarterly results and the company’s persistent delays in taking delivery of new vessels.

But DMG analyst Jason Saw says the worst could be over, with Ezra committed to ensuring no further delays, and high oil prices underpinning prospects for more exploration and production work by oil majors.

“Ezra is still bidding for more than US$1 billion new jobs. We believe newsflow on job awards will gain momentum over the next six to 12 months when the results of these tenders are out.” Immediate resistance is at the 50-day average of $1.74.