Danish conglomerate Maersk said impairments in its supply service and drilling divisions were behind an “unsatisfactory loss” of $1.9billion in 2016.
Maersk Group CEO Søren Skou said the year had been difficult financially with “headwinds” in all of its markets.
During the 12 months, Maersk revealed plans to split into separate energy and transport and logistics arms.
Meanwhile, drilling on the company’s £3billion Culzean field started in the North Sea in September.
The field was hailed as the biggest find in the UK North Sea in a decade when it was discovered in 2008, with resources estimated at 250-300million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Maersk’s $1.9billion loss for 2016 followed a profit of $925million in 2015.
The firm booked an impairment of $2.8billion in Maersk Supply Service and in Maersk Drilling as a consequence of an expected weaker outlook.
Mr Skou said: “Our top priorities for 2017 remain integrating our Transport & Logistics businesses, taking out cost in APM Terminals and Damco, closing the Hamburg-Süd acquisition, as well as progressing the work on finding structural solutions for each of our oil and oil-related businesses.
“For 2017, we expect A.P. Moller – Maersk to deliver an underlying profit above 2016, mainly driven by an improvement in underlying profit in excess of $1billion in Maersk Line compared to 2016.”