Houston’s EP Energy Corp., which launched five years ago brimming with Lower 48 assets once owned by El Paso Corp. (now part of Kinder Morgan Inc.), has begun trading over the counter after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) suspended trading.

The NYSE a few months ago had warned EP that the stock price had fallen below the minimum $1.00 level for more than a month. The stock exchange plans to ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the common stock based on an “abnormally low” price, which at midday Friday was around 7 cents/share.

EP has begun trading on OTC Pink markets under the symbol “EPEG.”

“The transition to the over-the-counter markets will not affect the company’s business operations,” management said.

El Paso, one of the largest natural gas pipeline operators in the country before its takeover by Kinder, in 2011 spun off its exploration and production assets. A year later EP was taken private for close to $7.5 billion in a deal by parties that included Apollo Global Management LLC and Riverstone Holdings LLC.

When EP then launched on the NYSE in 2014, its shares initially traded for around $20.

EP initially had an array of liquids-rich unconventional properties extending across Texas, Louisiana, the Raton Basin and the Rocky Mountains. Exploration programs are underway today in northeastern Utah in the Uinta Basin, as well as in the Permian Basin and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

During 1Q2019, EP produced about 73,200 boe/d. It completed 10 net wells overall, with the drilled but uncompleted well count at the end of March at 46.

EP reported net losses in 1Q2019 of $140 million (minus 56 cents/share), versus a year-ago profit of $18 million (7 cents).