Hondo Oil Posts $24-Million Loss, Restructures Debt : Energy: Control of difficult drilling operation in Colombia is turned over to venture partner Amoco Corp.

Bogged down by financial problems and a rain-soaked drilling site, Hondo Oil & Gas Co.--the energy exploration firm run by former Arco Chairman Robert O. Anderson--announced a loss Tuesday of almost $24 million for 1993 and said it has restructured nearly $75 million in debt.

The company also said it will turn over direction of a difficult natural gas drilling operation in Colombia to Amoco Corp., a partner in the venture.

For the year ended Sept. 30, Roswell, N.M.-based Hondo reported a net loss of $23.8 million, or $1.83 per share, compared to a loss the previous year of $56.8 million, or $4.37 a share.

Revenue dropped to $980,000 in 1993 from nearly $51 million in 1992, a reflection of the fact that the troubled company redirected its efforts in 1992, selling almost all its U.S. gas and oil assets.

Amoco’s decision to take charge of the Colombia drilling effort “was something that was expected” and was always an option for the Chicago-based firm in the joint venture agreement, said C.B. McDaniel, Hondo secretary and counsel. “It does make sense that they run these operations since they’re spending their own money.”

In August, Hondo gave Amoco 50% of the rights to develop a potentially “super-giant” natural gas field--estimated by some independent geologists to contain as much as 3 trillion to 4 trillion cubic feet of gas--in Colombia’s Magdalena Basin. In a parallel deal, Opon Development Co. of Denver gave Amoco another 10% of the project.

In exchange, Amoco gave Hondo $3 million and agreed to pay to drill a well--called Opon 3--to confirm the size of the field. Work on a previous well was suspended when a drill section became lodged in the hole.

But unusually large rains this fall hampered earthmovers attempting to prepare the well site for the main drilling rig, McDaniel said. A smaller rig was removed after completion of the first 500 feet of well.

“I think we were all concerned about delay there and making sure the effort was coordinated,” McDaniel said. “But I don’t think there was any nexus between the rainy season and Amoco taking over.”

Hondo’s debt restructuring--completed Sept. 30 but announced Tuesday--altered the terms of four loans that now total $74.5 million. The loans--which constitute most of Hondo’s $78.8-million total debt--are owed to Lonhro, the firm controlled by controversial British financier R.W. (Tiny) Rowland.

Under the new terms, $6 million in interest that Hondo failed to pay in 1992 was added to the principal owed. At the same time, the interest rate on the loans dropped to 6%. Before the restructuring, one $30.5-million loan had an interest rate of 13.5%, while three other variable-rate loans were set at prime plus 1.75%.

Hondo will pay interest-only until the first principal repayment is due in September, 1995. In the meantime, if Hondo cannot pay its debt service in cash, Lonhro--which already has indirect ownership of 39% of Hondo--will have the option of taking the interest payment in stock or again rolling the interest into the principal.

The agreement, which will save Hondo $3 million in debt service in 1994, “gives us a way to proceed while we examine this Opon 3 well,” McDaniel said. The well is “the thing we count upon for the success of the company.”

McDaniel said he expects drilling to resume by Jan. 15. The partners should know the extent of the field’s holdings in three to six months.

Hondo shares rose 37.5 cents to $6.50 on Tuesday on the American Stock Exchange. The stock had traded as high as $12.50 earlier this year.