MXP.L Share News (MXP)

Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas company Max Petroleum slipped deep into the red at the interim stage after taking a massive hit on credit facility restructuring costs.Loss before tax in the six months to 30 September was $113.9m, versus a pre-tax profit of $5.9m last year.The company took $101.9m of non-cash charges arising from the restructuring of its mezzanine credit facility with Macquarie Bank Limited and its outstanding convertible bonds.Revenue of $20.6m was down 35% from the $31.5m achieved in the first half of the previous financial year, despite total sales volumes rising to 401,000 barrels of crude from 372,000 barrels the year before.The average price realised on sales slumped 39% to $51.51 per barrel from $84.67 the yer before.Operating costs per barrel, including selling and transportation costs, rose 7% to $14.90 from $13.91.The group’s cash balance at the end of September was $5.6m, plus it has $24.3m of headroom on its $80m credit facility.Future expenditure is hard to predict, the group said, because it depends on the results of the exploration programme and farm-out agreements. A chunk of appraisal and development costs on any future discoveries will probably be funded by a mixture of operating cash flow from additional production, as well as additional equity and debt financing obtained after the group has made one or more discoveries.