By Yvonne Cheong

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's Keppel Corp (KPLM.SI: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest offshore oil rig builder, posted a 16 percent rise in quarterly net profit on Thursday and said the outlook for rigs and infrastructure remained robust.

Keppel Corp and rival Sembcorp Marine (SCMN.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) have benefitted from the jump in oil exploration in recent years as crude prices CLc1 soared to record highs.

"Our net orderbook of S$13 billion at the end of the first half 2008 is another new record. Deliveries will extend into 2012," Executive Chairman Lim Chee Onn said at a news conference.

Keppel said demand for rigs and production systems was "supported by higher exploration and production budgets of oil companies to meet global energy demand and replenish depleting hydrocarbons reserves."

The firm said it was interested in power generating assets, but declined to comment on whether it had made a bid for Singapore's Senoko Power, the second of three electricity firms being sold by state investor Temasek [TEM.UL].

Keppel earned S$299.3 million ($219.1 million) in the three months to end-June, in line with analysts' forecasts of about S$300 million and up from S$258.4 million in the same quarter a year ago.

Its revenue rose 7.7 percent to S$2.64 billion.

Keppel Corp will increase its interim dividend for the half year to 14 Singapore cents a share, up 56 percent from a year ago.