Plunging oil prices have pushed Enap, Chile’s state oil company, to a worse-than-expected $958m net loss in 2008.

Chile’s second-largest company after copper giant Codelco supplies four-fifths of the country’s oil and gas products. It had already primed the market to expect an unprecedented loss of more than $800m with a warning last year, which prompted Enrique Dávila to step down as chief executive at the end of December.