Falling: Verenex drops to loss.
Verenex spills red ink
Verenex Energy said it sank into the red during the fiscal fourth quarter while reporting negative revenue for the first three months of this year.
The Calgary-based explorer reported a loss of $2.6 million or 6 cents per share, reversing year-earlier profit of $2.1 million or 4 cents per share.
Quarterly revenue fell to negative $8000 from $240,000 recorded the year before.
The company attributed the dip to its decreased cash position coupled with lower interest rates, according to a report in The Canadian Press.
Verenex is currently embroiled in a bidding war between Libya state-controlled National Oil Company (NOC) and state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation.
CNPC has offered to buy the company for $10 per share, but Libya's NOC has said it plans to exercise a pre-emptive right to purchase the company by matching CNPC´s proposed price.
The majority of Verenex's interests are in Libya.
"The company will continue to actively seek the consent of the NOC and the Libyan government for the sale of Verenex,” the company said in a release. “While this process is under way, operations will continue in Libya.”