LONDON (Alliance News) - MX Oil PLC shares dropped Friday after it posted a significantly widened annual loss on the back of costs relating to the operation and development of wells in the Aje field, Nigeria.
Shares in natural resources focused investment company were down 10% Friday at 0.38 pence each.
MX Oil posted a pretax loss of GBP3.4 million for 2017, versus GBP1.3 million pretax loss the year before. The company's increased its revenue 6.2% to GBP1.7 million from GBP1.6 million.
Operating costs for the year amounted to GBP2.6 million versus nil a year ago.
The company's net asset value increased to GBP14.2 million in 2017 from GBP12.3 million the year before. Its NAV per share, however, dropped to 0.86 pence from 1.19 pence.
During the year MX Oil undertook two fund raisings, totalling GBP6.6 million.
The investment company received an updated competent persons report for its OML 113 licence. The new report increases the proven reserves to 78.2 million barrels of oil from 11.7 million barrels of oil since the previous publication of the report in 2014.
The proven and probable reserves have increased to 127.1 mmboe from 23.4 mmboe. The proven, probable and possible reserves have increased to 215.0 mmboe from an unreported figure in 2014.
The company is not proposing a dividend for 2017, the same as last year.
Looking ahead, MX Oil is currently working on "the potential for new oil wells in both the Turonian and Cenomanian" oil rims due to the updated competent persons report.
The company is also in the "progressing well" in the process of renewing its OML 113 licence "for a further 20 years"
Based on these two developments, MX Oil expects to see "further development drilling in 2019 with a view to progression to a full-scale oil and gas integrated project thereafter".