Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Note 8 - Leases

v3.19.3
Note 8 - Leases
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2019
Notes to Financial Statements  
Lessee, Operating Leases [Text Block]
8.
Leases
 
ASU
2016
-
02
was effective for us on
Jan
uary
1,
2019
 and we adopted the new standard using a modified retrospective approach.  Consequently, upon transition, we recognized an ROU asset and a lease liability with
no
retained earnings impact.
 
As provided for in subsequent accounting standards updates related to ASU
2016
-
02,
we are applying the following practical expedients which provide elections to:
 
 
not
apply the recognition requirements to short-term leases (a lease that at commencement date has a lease term of
12
months or less and does
not
contain a purchase option);
 
 
not
reassess whether a contract contains a lease, lease classifications between operating and financing and accounting for initial direct costs related to leases;
 
 
not
reassess certain land easements in existence prior to
January 1, 2019;
 
 
use hindsight in determining the lease term and assessing impairment; and
 
 
not
separate non-lease and lease components.
 
Based on the results of our implementation process, we identified
one
 operating lease in existence at
January 1, 2019
subject to ASU
2016
-
02,
which is our real estate lease for office space in Houston, Texas that terminates in
December 2022. 
We identified
no
finance leases.  The implementation  of ASU
2016
-
02
resulted in establishing an ROU asset and lease liability of
$5.0
million during the
first
quarter of
2019.
  The adoption of the new standard did
not
impact our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations, Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows or Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Shareholders’ Deficit.  
 
During the
nine
 months ended
September 
30,
2019,
various pipeline rights-of-way contracts and a land lease were acquired, assumed, renewed or otherwise entered into, primarily in conjunction with the Mobile Bay Acquisition.  For these contracts, an ROU asset and a corresponding lease liability was calculated based on our assumptions of the term, inflation rates and incremental borrowing rates.  The term of eac
h pipeline right-of-way contract is
10
years with various effective dates, and each has an option to renew for up to another
ten
 years.  It is expected renewals beyond
10
years can be obtained as renewals were granted to the previous lessees.  The land lease has an option to renew every
five
 years extending to
2085.
  The expected term of the rights-of way and land leases was estimated to approximate the life of the related reserves.  
 
Minimum future lease payments were estimated assuming expected terms of the leases and estimated inflation escalations of payments for certain leases.  Undiscounted future minimum payments as
of
September 30, 2019
are
as follows:
2019
-
$0.8
 million;
2020
-
$1.9
 million;
2021
-
$1.9
 million; 
2022
-
$2.0
 million;
2023
-
$0.5
million; and
2024
and beyond - 
$13.2
million. 
During the
nine
 months ended
September 
30,
2019
and
2018,
e
xpense recognized related to these leases was
$2.0
million for each period.    
 
As of
September 30, 2019
, we recorded ROU assets and lease liabilities using a discount rate of
9.75%
for the Houston office lease and
10.75%
for the other leases.  The discount rate (or incremental borrowing rate) was determined using the interest rate of recently issued debt instruments that were issued at par and for a similar term as the term of our Houston office lease.  For the other lease contracts, a higher discount rate was used as the incremental borrowing rate due to longer expected termination dates.  The expected terms of the leases ranged between
three
and
20
years, with
no
early terminations assumed.
 
Amounts related to leases recorded within our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet are as follows (in thousands):
 
   
September 30, 2019
 
ROU (net):
       
Other assets
  $
10,239
 
         
Lease liability:
       
Accrued liabilities
  $
1,877
 
Other liabilities
   
7,883
 
Total lease liability
  $
9,760
 
         
Lease incentives:
       
Other assets (contra-asset)
  $
(907
)
 
 
During the
nine
 months ended
September 
30,
2019,
we incurred short-term lease costs related to drilling rigs of
$13.3
 million, net
to our interest, of which the majority of such costs were recorded within
Oil and natural gas properties, net
, on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.  In exercising the practical expedient, we did
not
separate non-lease and lease components for these short-term leases.