Harvest Natural Drops on ‘Going Concern’ Warning: Houston Mover

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Harvest Natural Resources Inc., the Houston-based energy company with production in Venezuela, fell the most ever after reporting a 2012 loss and disclosing a “going concern qualification” by auditors because of its liquidity.

Harvest declined 44 percent to $3.05 at 9:30 a.m. in New York, the biggest intraday drop since it began trading publicly. It has fallen 65 percent this year.

The oil and natural gas company has identified “material weakness” in accounting that will require revision and possible restatement of results for 2010, 2011, and 2012, Harvest said today in a filing. Harvest, which also has operations in Oman, Gabon, Indonesia and China, will delay filing its 2012 annual report.

For 2012, Harvest had a loss of $9.6 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with net income of $51.8 million, or $1.32, a year earlier. Harvest was expected to report profit of $22 million, the average of two analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Harvest last month announced the termination of the planned $725 million sale of its stake in Venezuelan oil explorer Petrodelta SA to Indonesia’s state-owned PT Pertamina. The company has a 32 percent equity stake in Petrodelta and Petroleos de Venezuela SA owns 60 percent.

Harvest found an error in cash flow items and determined that certain assets have been impaired, it said in today’s filing. The management also concluded there were errors in certain leases and internal costs.

The company said its auditors’ opinion of 2012 results will include a going concern qualification. The company had $20.4 million in cash and near-cash items as of the end of September.

Harvest didn’t immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.

--Editors: Jessica Resnick-Ault, Tina Davis