ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
We are subject to various risks and uncertainties in the course of our business. The following summarizes significant risks and uncertainties that may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. When considering an investment in our securities, you should carefully consider the risk factors included below as well as those matters referenced in the foregoing pages under “Disclosures Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and other information included and incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Summary Risk Factors
Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those in the section entitled “ Risk Factors ” and elsewhere in this Report. These risks include, but are not limited to, the following:
The future price of oil, natural gas and NGL;
Current and future declines in economic activity and recessions, and their effect on the Company, its property, prospects and the supply and demand, and ultimate price of oil and natural gas;
The status and availability of oil and natural gas gathering, transportation, and storage facilities owned and operated by third parties;
An increase in the differential between the NYMEX or other benchmark prices of oil and natural gas and the wellhead price we receive for our production may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations;
New or amended environmental legislation or regulatory initiatives which could result in increased costs, additional operating restrictions, or delays, or have other adverse effects on us;
The effect of future shut-ins of our operated production, should market conditions significantly deteriorate;
Our ability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet any future debt service and other obligations due to events beyond our control;
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The speculative nature of our oil and gas operations, and general risks associated with the exploration for, and production of oil and gas; including accidents, equipment failures or mechanical problems which may occur while drilling or completing wells or in production activities; operational hazards and unforeseen interruptions for which we may not be adequately insured; the threat and impact of terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks or similar hostilities; declining reserves and production; and losses or costs we may incur as a result of title deficiencies or environmental issues in the properties in which we invest, any one of which may adversely impact our operations;
The estimates of the value of our oil and gas properties and accounting in connection therewith;
Intense competition in the oil and natural gas industry;
Our competitors use of superior technology and data resources that we may be unable to afford or obtain the use of;
Changes in the legal and regulatory environment governing the oil and natural gas industry, including new or amended environmental legislation or regulatory initiatives which could result in increased costs, additional operating restrictions, or delays, or have other adverse effects on us;
Uncertainties associated with enhanced recovery methods which may result in us not realizing an acceptable return on our investments in such projects or suffering losses;
Improvements in or new discoveries of alternative energy technologies that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations;
Future litigation or governmental proceedings which could result in material adverse consequences, including judgments or settlements;
The currently sporadic and volatile market for our common stock;
Our dependence on the continued involvement of our present management;
Our limited operating history;
Our need for additional funding to support our operations, repay debt and expand our operations;
Disruptions to our operations or liabilities associated with future acquisitions;
Our ability to continue as a going concern;
Our dependence on our Chief Executive Officer and director, Michael McLaren, and related party transactions affecting the Company;
Competition we face;
Our ability to maintain our varied operations, and service our indebtedness;
Material weaknesses in our controls and procedures;
Our ability to obtain and maintain adequate insurance;
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Legal challenges and litigation;
Dilution caused by the conversion of outstanding notes, conversion of preferred stock, exercise of outstanding warrants, and future fund-raising activities;
The price of, volatility in, and lack of robust trading market for, our common stock; and
The fact that Mr. McLaren, our Chief Executive Officer, has voting control over the Company.
Risks Related to our Business.
Since we have a limited operating history, it is difficult for potential investors to evaluate our business.
Our short operating history in the health and wellness industry and oil and gas industry may hinder our ability to successfully meet our objectives, and makes it difficult for potential investors to evaluate our business or prospective operations. As an early-stage company, we are subject to all the risks inherent in the financing, expenditures, operations, complications and delays inherent in a new business. Accordingly, our business and success face risks from uncertainties faced by developing companies in a competitive environment. There can be no assurance that our efforts will be successful or that we will ultimately be able to attain profitability.
We require additional financing, and we may not be able to raise funds on favorable terms or at all, which raises questions about our ability to continue as a going concern.
We had working capital deficit of $4,570,096 as of December 31, 2022. With our current cash on hand, expected revenues, and based on our current average monthly expenses, we currently anticipate the need for additional funding in order to continue our operations at their current levels and to pay the costs associated with being a public company for the next 12 months. We may also require additional funding in the future to expand or complete acquisitions. The most likely source of future funds presently available to us will be through the sale of equity capital (once we are able to increase our authorized but unissued shares of common stock). Any sale of share capital will result in dilution to existing stockholders. Furthermore, we may incur debt in the future, and may not have sufficient funds to repay our future indebtedness or may default on our future debts, jeopardizing our business viability. We have an accumulated deficit of $23,115,376 as of December 31, 2022.
These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern for the next twelve months. The accompanying financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America on a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. Accordingly, the financial statements do not include any adjustments relating to the recoverability of assets and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern. The financial statements included herein also include a going concern footnote from our auditors.
We may not be able to borrow or raise additional capital in the future to meet our needs or to otherwise provide the capital necessary to expand our operations and business, which might result in the value of our common stock decreasing in value or becoming worthless. Additional financing may not be available to us on terms that are acceptable. Consequently, we may not be able to proceed with our intended business plans. Substantial additional funds will still be required if we are to reach our goals that are outlined in this Report. Obtaining additional financing contains risks, including:
additional equity financing may not be available to us on satisfactory terms and any equity we are able to issue could lead to dilution for current stockholders;
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loans or other debt instruments may have terms and/or conditions, such as interest rate, restrictive covenants and control or revocation provisions, which are not acceptable to management or our sole director;
the current environment in capital markets combined with our capital constraints may prevent us from being able to obtain adequate debt financing; and
if we fail to obtain required additional financing to grow our business, we will need to delay or scale back our business plan, reduce our operating costs, or reduce our headcount, each of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, future prospects, and financial condition.
We have recently changed our primary business focus from the telemedicine, life coaching and wellness, to oil and gas.
During the fiscal year end December 31, 2022, the Company owned and operated ZipDoctor, Inc. and was the majority owner of Epiq Scripts, LLC, which the Company divested in April 2023 and February 2023, respectively. As of the date of this Report, the Company currently is the parent to Cycle Energy Corp., a diversified energy company based in the state of Texas that currently owns and operates three vertically integrated businesses – Cycle Oil and Gas, Cycle Energy Services and Cycle Energy Technologies. As such, our current operations consist primarily of operations within the oil and gas industry, which industries we have only a limited history with. Furthermore, the majority of our revenues for the two years ending December 31, 2020 were generated through our MedSpa, nutrition store and construction services, and as such, our continued ability to generate revenues and support our operations is currently unknown.
We may owe significant amounts to a consultant under the terms of the consulting agreement.
On March 8, 2021, we entered into a Consulting Agreement with KBHS, LLC (“ KBHS ”), whose Chief Executive Officer is Mr. Kevin Harrington, who was appointed the sole member of our then newly formed Advisory Committee. Pursuant to the Consulting Agreement, KBHS agreed to provide consulting services to the Company as the Company’s Brand Ambassador, including providing endorsement services and advising on marketing, promotions, acquisitions, licensing and business development. KBHS also agreed to up to four webinar appearances on behalf of the Company per year to support the Company’s direct sales efforts. The Consulting Agreement has a term of two years, and can be terminated with ten days prior written notice (subject to applicable cure rights set forth in the Consulting Agreement), in the event we or KBHS breach any term of the agreement, or we fail to pay any amounts due, become subject to any government regulatory investigation, certain lawsuits, claims, actions or take certain other actions during the term of the Consulting Agreement. As consideration for providing the services under the Consulting Agreement, we issued KBHS 25,000 shares of restricted common stock, which vested immediately upon issuance, and agreed to pay KBHS $10,000 per month, a 5% finder’s fee on any new business introduced or developed by KBHS (of which there has been none to date) and 7.5% of the value of any acquisition or merger created or developed exclusively by KBHS, undertaken by the Company, subject to applicable laws. In the event we fail to pay any consideration due under the Consulting Agreement, such amount accrues interest at the rate of 1.5% per month until paid in full.
The requirement to pay the finder’s fees and/or acquisition/merger fee under the agreement could significantly decrease any margin we would otherwise obtain on any transaction, decrease our cash flows, and could prevent us from completing certain transactions in the future, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the Company and its securities.
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Our independent registered public accounting firm has expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.
Our historical financial statements have been prepared under the assumption that we will continue as a going concern. Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued a report on our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, that included an explanatory paragraph referring to our recurring operating losses and expressing substantial doubt in our ability to continue as a going concern. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to obtain additional equity financing or other capital, attain further operating efficiencies, reduce expenditures, and, ultimately, generate revenue. Our financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. However, if adequate funds are not available to us when we need it, we will be required to curtail our operations which would, in turn, further raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The doubt regarding our potential ability to continue as a going concern may adversely affect our ability to obtain new financing on reasonable terms or at all. Additionally, if we are unable to continue as a going concern, our stockholders may lose some or all of their investment in the Company.
We depend heavily on our Chief Executive Officer, and the loss of his services could harm our business.
Our future business and results of operations depend in significant part upon the continued contributions of our senior management personnel, particularly our Chief Executive Officer and director, Michael McLaren. If we lose his services or if he fails to perform in his current position, or if we are not able to attract and retain skilled personnel as needed, our business could suffer. Significant turnover in our senior management could significantly deplete our institutional knowledge held by our existing senior management team. We depend on the skills and abilities of these key personnel in managing our operations, product development, marketing and sales aspects of our business, any part of which could be harmed by turnover in the future.
We have engaged and may in the future engage, in transactions with related parties and such transactions present possible conflicts of interest.
We have entered, and may continue to enter, into transactions with related parties for financing, corporate, business development and operational services, as detailed herein. Such transactions may not have been entered into on an arm’s-length basis, and we may have achieved more or less favorable terms because such transactions were entered into with our related parties. This could have a material effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The details of certain of these transactions are set forth under “ Certain Relationships and Related Transactions ”. Such conflicts could cause an individual in our management to seek to advance his or her economic interests or the economic interests of certain related parties above ours. Further, the appearance of conflicts of interest created by related party transactions could impair the confidence of our investors.
We have identified material weaknesses in our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. If not remediated, our failure to establish and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and a failure to meet our reporting and financial obligations, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the trading price of our common stock.
Maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and effective disclosure controls and procedures are necessary for us to produce reliable financial statements. As reported in this Report, we have determined that our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting were not effective at the reasonable assurance level, primarily due to a lack of segregation of duties in financial reporting, as of December 31, 2022, and continue to be ineffective. Separately, management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022 and determined that such internal control over financial reporting was not effective as a result of such assessment; and further have not been effective since at least March 31, 2016.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. A control deficiency exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent or detect misstatements on a timely basis.
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We recognized the following deficiencies that we believe to be material weaknesses as of December 31, 2022: (a) the Company has not fully designed, implemented or assessed internal controls over financial reporting and due to the Company being a developing company, management’s assessment and conclusion over internal controls were ineffective this year; (b) we recognized the following deficiencies that we believe to be significant deficiencies: (i) the Company has no formal control process related to the identification and approval of related party transactions; (ii) we do not have written documentation of our internal control policies and procedures. Written documentation of key internal controls over financial reporting is a requirement of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; and (iii) we do not have sufficient segregation of duties within accounting functions, which is a basic internal control. Due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. However, to the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals.
Maintaining effective disclosure controls and procedures and effective internal control over financial reporting are necessary for us to produce reliable financial statements and the Company is committed to remediating its material weaknesses in such controls as promptly as possible. However, there can be no assurance as to when these material weaknesses will be remediated or that additional material weaknesses will not arise in the future. Any failure to remediate the material weaknesses, or the development of new material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and cause us to fail to meet our reporting and financial obligations, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the trading price of our common stock, and/or result in litigation against us or our management. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or facilitate the fair presentation of our financial statements or our periodic reports filed with the SEC.
Risks Related to the Oil, NGL and Natural Gas Industry and Our Business
We may not be able to manage successfully the anticipated expansion of our operations.
The uneven pace of our anticipated expansion in facilities, staff and operations may place serious demands on our managerial, technical, financial and other resources. We may be required to make significant investments in our engineering and logistics systems and our financial and management information systems, as well as retaining, motivating and effectively managing our employees. Our failure to manage our growth effectively or to implement our strategy in a timely manner may significantly harm our ability to achieve profitability.
We will need to recruit, train and retain key management and other qualified personnel to successfully expand our business.
Our future success will depend in large part on our ability to recruit and retain experienced research and development, engineering, manufacturing, operating, sales and marketing, customer service and management personnel. We will compete in emerging markets and there are a limited number of people with the appropriate combination of skills needed to provide the services our customers require. If we do not attract such personnel, we may not be able to expand our business. In addition, new employees generally require substantial training, which requires significant resources and management attention. Even if we invest significant resources to recruit, train and retain qualified personnel, we may not be successful in our efforts.
The success of our business depends upon the continuing contributions of our Chief Executive Officer and other key personnel and our ability to attract other employees to expand our business.
We will rely heavily on the services of our Chief Executive Officer, as well as other senior management personnel that we intend to hire. Loss of the services of any of such individuals would adversely impact our operations. In addition, we believe that our technical personnel will represent a significant asset and provide us with a competitive advantage over many of our competitors. We believe that our future success will depend upon our ability to retain these key employees and our ability to attract and retain other skilled financial, engineering, technical and managerial personnel. For example, we presently do not have any directors or officers, other than our CEO, who have experience with preparing disclosure mandated by U.S. securities laws and we will be required to engage such persons, and independent directors, in order to satisfy the initial listing standards of the major exchanges on which we may seek to list our common stock. In addition, if we fail to engage qualified personnel, we may be unable to meet our responsibilities as a public reporting company under the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Our strategy for the sale of our technology will depend on developing partnerships with OEMs, governments, systems integrators, suppliers and other market channel partners who will incorporate our products into theirs.
Our strategy is to develop and manufacture products and systems for sale to OEMs, governments, systems integrators, suppliers and other market channel partners that have mature sales and distribution networks for their products. Our success may be heavily dependent on our ability to establish and maintain relationships with these partners who will integrate our products developed from our technology into their products and on our ability to find partners who are willing to assume some of the research and development costs and risks associated with our technology. Our performance may, as a result, depend on the success of other companies, and there are no assurances of their success. We can offer no guarantee that OEMs, governments, systems integrators, suppliers and other market channel partners will manufacture appropriate products or, if they do manufacture such products, that they will choose to use our technology as a component. The end products into which our technology will be incorporated will be complex appliances comprising many components and any problems encountered by such third parties in designing, manufacturing or marketing their products, whether or not related to the incorporation of our fuel cell products, could delay sales of our products and adversely affect our financial results. Our ability to sell our products to the OEM markets depends to a significant extent on our partners’ worldwide sales and distribution networks and service capabilities. In addition, some of our agreements with customers and partners require us to provide shared intellectual property rights in certain situations, and there can be no assurance that any future relationships we enter into will not require us to share some of our intellectual property. Any change in the fuel cell, hydrogen or alternative fuel strategies of one of our partners could have a material adverse effect on our business and our future prospects.
In addition, in some cases, our relationships are governed by a non-binding memorandum of understanding or a letter of intent. We cannot provide the assurance that we will be able to successfully negotiate and execute definitive agreements with any of these partners, and failure to do so may effectively terminate the relevant relationship. We also have relationships with third party distributors who also indirectly compete with us. For example, we have targeted industrial gas suppliers as distributors of our hydrogen generators. Because industrial gas suppliers currently sell hydrogen in delivered form, adoption by their customers of our hydrogen generation products could cause them to experience declining demand for delivered hydrogen. For this reason, industrial gas suppliers may be reluctant to purchase our hydrogen generators. In addition, our third party distributors may require us to provide volume price discounts and other allowances, or customize our products, either of which could reduce the potential profitability of these relationships.
We may acquire technologies or companies in the future, and these acquisitions could disrupt our business and dilute our shareholders’ interests.
We may acquire additional technologies or other companies in the future and we cannot provide assurances that we will be able to successfully integrate their operations or that the cost savings we anticipate will be fully realized. Entering into an acquisition or investment entails many risks, any of which could materially harm our business, including: diversion of management’s attention from other business concerns; failure to effectively assimilate the acquired technology, employees or other assets into our business; the loss of key employees from either our current business or the acquired business; and the assumption of significant liabilities of the acquired company.
If we complete additional acquisitions, we may dilute the ownership of current shareholders. In addition, achieving the expected returns and cost savings from our past and future acquisitions will depend in part on our ability to integrate the products and services, technologies, research and development programs, operations, sales and marketing functions, finance, accounting and administrative functions, and other personnel of these businesses into our business in an efficient and effective manner. We cannot ensure we will be able to do so or that the acquired businesses will perform at anticipated levels. If we are unable to successfully integrate acquired businesses, our anticipated revenues may be lower and our operational costs may be higher.
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Risk Factors Related to Our Technology
We have no history of commercializing technology which makes it difficult to evaluate our business.
We have just finalized our acquisition agreement, filed the patents for our technology and are setting in place operations. We have no history of operations in our industry. Our limited operating history makes it difficult for prospective investors to evaluate our business. Therefore, our operations are subject to all of the risks inherent in the initial expenses, challenges, complications and delays frequently encountered in connection with the early stages of any new business, as well as those risks that are specific to the our industry. Investors should evaluate us in light of the problems and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies attempting to develop and market new products, services, and technologies. Despite best efforts, we may never overcome these obstacles.
Our business is dependent upon the implementation of our business plan, as well as our ability to commercialize our technology. There can be no assurance that our efforts will be successful or result in continued revenue or profit.
We may never complete the development of commercially viable hydrogen generation systems for new hydrogen energy applications, and if we fail to do so, we will not be able to meet our business and growth objectives.
Because our technology business and industry are still in the developmental stage, we do not know when or whether we will successfully complete research and development of commercially viable applications. If we do not complete the development of such commercially viable products, we will be unable to meet our business and growth objectives. We expect to face unforeseen challenges, expenses and difficulties as a developing company seeking to design, develop and manufacture new products in each of our targeted markets. Our future success also depends on our ability to effectively market some or all of the products once developed:
Hydrogen Generation systems for new hydrogen energy applications, improving the method of generating ultra-pure hydrogen while both enhancing its productivity and reducing environmental impact associated with the ultra-pure hydrogen production.
Rapid technological advances or the adoption of new codes and standards could impair our ability to deliver our technology in a timely manner and, as a result, our revenues would suffer.
While we intend to actively and continuously monitor the developing markets and regulations in markets for our technology, our success depends in large part on our ability to commercialize our technology and once commercialized to keep our products current and compatible with evolving technologies, codes and standards. Unexpected changes in technology or in codes and standards could disrupt the development of our technology and the resultant products and prevent us from meeting deadlines for the delivery of products. If we are unable to keep pace with technological advancements and adapt our technology and the products derived therefrom to new codes and standards in a timely manner, our technology may become uncompetitive or obsolete and our revenues would suffer.
We depend on intellectual property and our failure to protect that intellectual property could adversely affect our future growth and success.
Failure to protect our intellectual property rights may reduce our ability to prevent others from using our technology. We intend to rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, trademark and copyright laws to protect our intellectual property. Patent protection is subject to complex factual and legal criteria that may give rise to uncertainty as to the validity, scope and enforceability of a particular patent. Accordingly, we cannot be assured that any patents owned by us or third party patents licensed to us will not be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, rendered unenforceable, or licensed to others; or any of our pending or future patent applications will be issued with the breadth of protection that we seek, if at all.
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In addition, effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable, limited, not applied for, or unenforceable in foreign countries.
We also intend to protect our proprietary intellectual property through contracts including, when possible, confidentiality agreements and inventors’ rights agreements with our customers and employees. We cannot be sure that the parties who enter into such agreements with us will not breach them, that we will have adequate remedies for any breach or that such persons or institutions will not assert rights to intellectual property arising out of these relationships. If necessary or desirable, we may seek licenses under the patents or other intellectual property rights of others. However, we cannot be sure we will obtain such licenses or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable to us. Our failure to obtain a license from a third party for intellectual property we use in the future could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and to suspend the manufacture and shipment of products or our use of processes that exploit such intellectual property.
Our involvement in intellectual property litigation could negatively affect our business.
Our future success and competitive position will depend in part on our ability to obtain or maintain the proprietary intellectual property used in our principal products. In order to establish and maintain such a competitive position, we may need to prosecute claims against others who we believe are infringing our rights and defend claims brought by others who believe we are infringing their rights. Our involvement in intellectual property litigation could result in significant expense to us, adversely affect the sale of any products involved or the use or licensing of related intellectual property and divert the efforts of our technical and management personnel from their principal responsibilities, regardless of whether such litigation is resolved in our favor. If we are found to be infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, we may, among other things, be required to: pay substantial damages; cease the development, manufacture, use, sale or importation of products that infringe on such intellectual property rights; discontinue processes incorporating the infringing technology; expend significant resources to develop or acquire non-infringing intellectual property; or obtain licenses to the relevant intellectual property.
We cannot offer any assurance we will prevail in any such intellectual property litigation or, if we were not to prevail in such litigation that licenses to the intellectual property we are found to be infringing on would be available on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. The cost of intellectual property litigation as well as the damages, licensing fees or royalties that we might be required to pay could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial results.
Our products use flammable fuels that are inherently dangerous substances and could subject us to product liabilities.
While it is a key focus of management to develop and manufacture safe and reliable products, our financial results could be materially impacted by accidents involving either our products or those of other fuel cell manufacturers, either because we face claims for damages or because of the potential negative impact on demand for fuel cell products. Our products use hydrogen, which is typically generated from gaseous and liquid fuels, such as propane, natural gas or methanol, in a process known as reforming. While our fuel cell products do not use these fuels in a combustion process, natural gas, propane and other hydrocarbons are flammable fuels that could leak and then combust if ignited by another source. In addition, certain of our OEM partners and customers may experience significant product liability claims. As a supplier of products and systems to these OEMs, we face an inherent business risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event our products, or the equipment into which our products are incorporated, malfunction and result in personal injury or death. We may be named in product liability claims even if there is no evidence our systems or components caused the accidents. Product liability claims could result in significant losses from expenses incurred in defending claims or the award of damages. Since our products have not yet gained widespread market acceptance, any accidents involving our systems, those of other fuel cell products or those used to produce hydrogen could materially impede acceptance of our products. In addition, although our management believes our liability coverage is currently adequate to cover these risks, we may be held responsible for damages beyond the scope of our insurance coverage.
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We may not be able to complete the development of the necessary technology to commercialize our products, which would negatively impact our business and our anticipated growth.
Our success will depend upon our products meeting acceptable cost and performance criteria, and upon their timely introduction into the marketplace. Our product development efforts for pure hydrogen generation may be subject to unanticipated and significant delays, expenses and technical or other problems, as well as the possible lack of funding to complete this development. Our proposed products and technologies may never be successfully developed on a mass commercial scale, and even if developed, they may not perform to commercially acceptable standards. We may experience delays in meeting our development milestones or delays in achieving performance goals relating to efficiency, cost-effectiveness, reliability and service arrangements set by us or our customers. Failure to develop our products for production or significant delays in the development of our products would have a material adverse effect on our relationship with potential customers, cause us to lose business and cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
The products we intend to market may not be accepted by the market .
Our success depends on the acceptance of the products we will market in the marketplace. Market acceptance will depend upon several factors, including (i) the desire of consumers and corporations for the ability to use the products. A number of factors may inhibit acceptance of the products, including (i) the existence of competing products, (ii) our inability to convince consumers that they need to pay for the products and services we offer, (iii) our inability to convince corporations that they need to pay for the products and services we offer or (iv) failure of individuals and corporations to use the products. If the products are not accepted by the market, we may have to curtail our business operations, which could have a material negative effect on operating results and result in a lower stock price.
There is significant competition in our market, which could make it difficult to attract customers, cause us to reduce prices and result in reduced gross margins or loss of market share.
The market for the products and services is highly competitive, dynamic and subject to frequent technological changes. We expect the intensity of competition and the pace of change to either remain the same or increase in the future. A number of companies may offer products that provide the same or greater functionality than our product. We may not be able to maintain our competitive position against current or potential competitors, especially those with significantly greater financial, marketing, service, support, technical and other resources. Competitors with greater resources may be able to undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, adopt more aggressive pricing policies and make more attractive offers to potential employees, distributors, resellers or other strategic partners. We expect additional competition from other established and emerging companies as the market for pure hydrogen products continues to develop.
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We may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors.
We will compete, in our current and proposed businesses, with other companies, some of which have far greater marketing and financial resources and experience than we do. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to penetrate this market and be able to compete at a profit. In addition to established competitors, other companies can easily enter our market and compete with us. Effective competition could result in price reductions, reduced margins or have other negative implications, any of which could adversely affect our business and chances for success. Competition is likely to increase significantly as new companies enter the market and current competitors expand their services. Many of these potential competitors are likely to enjoy substantial competitive advantages, including: larger technical staffs, greater name recognition, larger customer bases and substantially greater financial, marketing, technical and other resources. To be competitive, we must respond promptly and effectively to the challenges of technological change, evolving standards and competitors’ innovations by continuing to enhance our services and sales and marketing channels. Any pricing pressures, reduced margins or loss of market share resulting from increased competition or our failure to compete effectively, could seriously damage our business and chances for success
We plan to grow very rapidly, which will place strains on management and other resources.
We plan to grow rapidly and significantly expand our operations. This growth will place a significant strain on management systems and resources. We will not be able to implement our business strategy in a rapidly evolving market without an effective planning and management process, and, to date, we have not implemented sophisticated managerial, operational and financial systems and controls. We may be required to manage multiple relationships with various strategic partners, technology licensors, users, advertisers and other third parties. These requirements will be strained in the event of rapid growth or in the number of third party relationships, and our systems, procedures or controls may not be adequate to support our operations and management may be unable to manage growth effectively. To manage our expected growth, we will be required to significantly improve or replace existing managerial, financial and operational systems, procedures and controls, and to expand, train and manage our intended growing employee base. We will be required to expand our finance, administrative and operations staff. We may be unable to complete in a timely manner the improvements to our systems, procedures and controls necessary to support future operations, management may be unable to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel and management may be unable to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities.
If we do not continually introduce new products or enhance our current technology, it may become obsolete and we may not be able to compete with other companies.
Technology is rapidly evolving. Our ability to compete depends on our ability to develop or license new technologies and products as well as our ability market our current licensed products and our services. We may not be able to keep pace with technological advances and products may become obsolete. In addition, our competitors may develop related or similar products and bring them to market before we do, or do so more successfully, or develop technologies and products more effective than any that we have developed or are developing. If that happens, our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected.
If we do not succeed in our expansion strategy, we may not achieve the results we project.
Our business strategy is designed to develop and market our technology. Our ability to implement our plans will depend primarily on the success of our continuing research and development, our ability to manufacture and market a finished product, the ability to attract customers and the availability of qualified and cost effective sales personnel. We can give you no assurance that any of our expansion plans will be successful or that we will be able to commercialize our technology.
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Economic conditions could materially adversely affect our business .
Our operations and performance depend to some degree on economic conditions and their impact on levels of consumer spending, which have recently deteriorated significantly in many countries and regions, including the regions in which we operate, and may remain depressed for the foreseeable future. For example, some of the factors that could influence the levels of consumer spending include continuing increases in fuel and other energy costs, conditions in the residential real estate and mortgage markets, labor and healthcare costs, access to credit, consumer confidence and other macroeconomic factors affecting consumer spending behavior. These and other economic factors could have a material adverse effect on demand for our products and on our financial condition and operating results.
Changes in environmental laws and regulations, potential liability for environmental damages and related enforcement actions could adversely impact our operations.
Our business is subject to numerous laws and regulations that govern environmental protection. These laws and regulations have changed frequently in the past and it is reasonable to expect additional changes in the future. Our operations may not comply with future laws and regulations and we may be required to make significant unanticipated capital and operating expenditures. If we fail to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, governmental authorities may seek to impose fines and penalties on us or to revoke or deny the issuance or renewal of operating permits and private parties may seek damages from us. Under those circumstances, we might be required to curtail or cease operations, conduct site remediation or other corrective action or pay substantial damage claims. Our business also exposes us to the risk of accidental release of hazardous or flammable materials, such as natural gas and hydrogen, which could result in personal injury or damage to property. Depending on the nature of the claim, we may not have sufficient funds or sufficient insurance, which we intend to obtain to cover the costs incurred in settling environmental damage claims.
Environmental, Social Governance ESG
Environmental, social, and corporate governance, also known as environmental, social, governance, is a framework designed to be embedded into an organization’s strategy that considers the needs and ways in which to generate value for all organizational stakeholders. Cycle Group of Companies strive to remain ESG compliant and has a long history working within ESG frameworks in Canada working with Indigenous and socially impacted communities. Cycle Group of companies is an equal opportunity employer that also maintains a corporate strategy of living wage for all employees and contractors. A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs.
Declines in oil and, to a lesser extent, NGL and natural gas prices, have in the past, and will continue in the future, to adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations and our ability to meet our capital expenditure obligations or targets and financial commitments.
The price we receive for our oil and, to a lesser extent, natural gas and NGLs, heavily influences our revenue, profitability, cash flows, liquidity, access to capital, present value and quality of our reserves, the nature and scale of our operations and future rate of growth. Oil, NGL and natural gas are commodities and, therefore, their prices are subject to wide fluctuations in response to relatively minor changes in supply and demand. In recent years, the markets for oil and natural gas have been volatile. These markets will likely continue to be volatile in the future. Further, oil prices and natural gas prices do not necessarily fluctuate in direct relation to each other. Because approximately 72% of our estimated proved reserves as of December 31, 2022 were oil, our financial results are more sensitive to movements in oil prices. The price of crude oil has experienced significant volatility over the last five years, with the price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate (“ WTI ”) crude rising from a low of $42 in June 2017 to a high of $76 in October 2018, then, in 2020, dropping below $20 per barrel due in part to reduced global demand stemming from the global COVID-19 outbreak, and surging to over $120 a barrel in early March 2022, following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. A prolonged period of low market prices for oil and natural gas, or further declines in the market prices for oil and natural gas, will likely result in capital expenditures being further curtailed and will adversely affect our business, financial condition and liquidity and our ability to meet obligations, targets or financial commitments and could ultimately lead to restructuring or filing for bankruptcy, which would have a material adverse effect on our stock price and indebtedness. Additionally, lower oil and natural gas prices have, and may in the future, cause, a decline in our stock price. The below table highlights the recent volatility in oil and gas prices by summarizing the high and low daily NYMEX WTI oil spot price and daily NYMEX natural gas Henry Hub spot price for the periods presented:
Daily NYMEX WTI
oil spot price (per Bbl)
Daily NYMEX natural
gas Henry Hub spot price (per MMBtu)
High
Low
High
Low
Year ended December 31, 2019
Year ended December 31, 2020
Year ended December 31, 2021
Year ended December 31, 2022
Quarter ended March 31, 2023
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We have a limited operating history, have incurred net losses in the past and may incur net losses in the future
We have a limited operating history and are engaged in the initial stages of exploration, development and exploitation of our leasehold acreage and will continue to be so until commencement of substantial production from our oil and natural gas properties, which will depend upon successful drilling results, additional and timely capital funding, and access to suitable infrastructure. Companies in their initial stages of development face substantial business risks and may suffer significant losses. We have generated substantial net losses in the past and may continue to incur net losses as we continue our drilling program. In considering an investment in our common stock, you should consider that there is only limited historical and financial operating information available upon which to base your evaluation of our performance. We had an accumulated deficit of $23,115,376 as of December 31, 2022. Additionally, we may be dependent on obtaining additional debt and/or equity financing to roll-out and scale our planned principal business operations. Management’s plans in regard to these matters consist principally of seeking additional debt and/or equity financing combined with expected cash flows from current oil and gas assets held and additional oil and gas assets that we may acquire. Our efforts may not be successful, and funds may not be available on favorable terms, if at all.
We face challenges and uncertainties in financial planning as a result of the unavailability of historical data and uncertainties regarding the nature, scope and results of our future activities. New companies must develop successful business relationships, establish operating procedures, hire staff, install management information and other systems, establish facilities and obtain licenses, as well as take other measures necessary to conduct their intended business activities. We may not be successful in implementing our business strategies or in completing the development of the infrastructure necessary to conduct our business as planned. In the event that one or more of our drilling programs is not completed or is delayed or terminated, our operating results will be adversely affected and our operations will differ materially from the activities described in this Annual Report and our subsequent periodic reports. As a result of industry factors or factors relating specifically to us, we may have to change our methods of conducting business, which may cause a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. The uncertainty and risks described in this Annual Report may impede our ability to economically find, develop, exploit, and acquire oil and natural gas reserves. As a result, we may not be able to achieve or sustain profitability or positive cash flows provided by our operating activities in the future.
Our industry and the broader US economy have experienced higher than expected inflationary pressures in 2022, related to continued supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and geopolitical instability. Should these conditions persist our business, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Year 2022 saw significant increases in the costs of certain services and materials, including steel, sand and fuel, as a result of availability constraints, supply chain disruption, increased demand, labor shortages associated with a fully employed US labor force, high inflation, interest rates and other factors, with supply and demand fundamentals being further aggravated by disruptions in global energy supply caused by multiple geopolitical events, including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Service and materials costs also increased accordingly through 2022 with general supply chain and inflation issues seen throughout the industry leading to increased operating costs. While the Company is cautiously optimistic that such costs have plateaued and will hold at current levels as we have not seen significant cost increases thus far in 2023, supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures may continue to adversely impact our operating costs and may negatively impact our ability to procure materials and equipment in a timely and cost-effective manner, if at all, which could result in reduced margins and production delays and, as a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
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The conflict in Ukraine and related price volatility and geopolitical instability could negatively impact our business .
In late February 2022, Russia launched significant military action against Ukraine. The conflict has caused, and could intensify, volatility in natural gas, oil and NGL prices, and the extent and duration of the military action, sanctions and resulting market disruptions could be significant and could potentially have a substantial negative impact on the global economy and/or our business for an unknown period of time. We believe that the increase in crude oil prices during the first half of 2022 was partially due to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the global commodity and financial markets, and in response to economic and trade sanctions that certain countries have imposed on Russia. Any such volatility and disruptions may also magnify the impact of other risks described under “Risk Factors” in Item 1A of this Annual Report.
We have been and may continue to be negatively impacted by inflation.
Increases in inflation have had an adverse effect on us. Current and future inflationary effects may be driven by, among other things, supply chain disruptions and governmental stimulus or fiscal policies, and geopolitical instability, including the ongoing conflict between the Ukraine and Russia. Continuing increases in inflation, have in the past, and could in the future, impact our costs of labor, equipment and services and the margins we are able to realize on our wells, all of which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Inflation has also resulted in higher interest rates, which in turn raises our cost of debt borrowing.
Economic uncertainty may affect our access to capital and/or increase the costs of such capital.
Global economic conditions continue to be volatile and uncertain due to, among other things, consumer confidence in future economic conditions, fears of recession and trade wars, the price of energy, fluctuating interest rates, the availability and cost of consumer credit, the availability and timing of government stimulus programs, levels of unemployment, increased inflation, and tax rates. These conditions remain unpredictable and create uncertainties about our ability to raise capital in the future. In the event required capital becomes unavailable in the future, or more costly, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow to meet debt service and other obligations due to events beyond our control.
Our ability to generate cash flows from operations, to make payments on or refinance indebtedness and to fund working capital needs and planned capital expenditures will depend on our future financial performance and our ability to generate cash in the future. Our future financial performance will be affected by a range of economic, financial, competitive, business and other factors that we cannot control, such as general economic, legislative, regulatory and financial conditions in our industry, the economy generally, the price of oil and other risks described below. A significant reduction in operating cash flows resulting from changes in economic, legislative or regulatory conditions, increased competition or other events beyond our control could increase the need for additional or alternative sources of liquidity and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, prospects and our ability to service debt and other obligations. If we are unable to service indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs, we may be forced to adopt an alternative strategy that may include actions such as reducing or delaying capital expenditures, selling assets, restructuring or refinancing such indebtedness, seeking additional capital, or any combination of the foregoing. If we raise debt, it would increase our interest expense, leverage and our operating and financial costs. We cannot assure you that any of these alternative strategies could be affected on satisfactory terms, if at all, or that they would yield sufficient funds to make required payments on future potential indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs. Reducing or delaying capital expenditures or selling assets could delay future cash flows. In addition, the terms of future debt agreements may restrict us from adopting any of these alternatives. We cannot assure you that our business will generate sufficient cash flows from operations or that future borrowings will be available in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay such indebtedness or to fund our other liquidity needs.
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If for any reason we are unable to meet our debt service and repayment obligations, we may be in default under the terms of the agreements governing such indebtedness, which could allow our creditors at that time to declare such outstanding indebtedness to be due and payable. Under these circumstances, our lenders could compel us to apply all of our available cash to repay our borrowings. In addition, the lenders under our credit facilities or other secured indebtedness could seek to foreclose on any of our assets that are their collateral. If the amounts outstanding under such indebtedness were to be accelerated, or were the subject of foreclosure actions, our assets may not be sufficient to repay in full the money owed to the lenders or to our other debt holders.
Risks Associated with Oil and Gas Industry.
A substantial decline in crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas prices would reduce our operating results and cash flows and could adversely impact the carrying value of our assets.
The markets for crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas have been volatile and are likely to continue to be volatile in the future, causing prices to fluctuate widely. Our revenues and operating results are highly dependent on the prices we receive for our crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas. Many of the factors influencing prices of crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas are beyond our control. These factors include:
worldwide and domestic supplies of and demand for crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas;
the cost of exploring for, developing and producing crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas;
the ability of the members of OPEC+ to agree to and maintain production controls;
the production levels of non-OPEC countries, including production levels in the shale plays in the United States;
the level of drilling, completion and production activities by other exploration and production companies, and variability therein, in response to market conditions;
political instability or armed conflict in oil and natural gas producing regions, such as the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine;
changes in weather patterns and climate;
natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes;
the price and availability of alternative and competing forms of energy, such as nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar;
the effect of conservation efforts;
epidemics or pandemics, including COVID-19;
technological advances affecting energy consumption and energy supply;
domestic and foreign governmental regulations and taxes; and
general economic conditions worldwide.
The long-term effects of these and other factors on the prices of crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas are uncertain. Historical declines in commodity prices have adversely affected our business by:
reducing the amount of crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas that we can produce economically;
reducing our revenues, operating income and cash flows;
causing us to reduce our capital expenditures, and delay or postpone some of our capital projects;
requiring us to impair the carrying value of our assets;
reducing the standardized measure of discounted future net cash flows relating to crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas; and
increasing the costs of obtaining capital, such as equity and short- and long-term debt.
Our operations may be adversely affected by pipeline, rail and other transportation capacity constraints.
The marketability of our production depends in part on the availability, proximity and capacity of gathering and transportation pipeline facilities, rail cars, trucks and vessels. These facilities and equipment may be temporarily unavailable to us due to market conditions, regulatory reasons, mechanical reasons or other factors or conditions, and may not be available to us in the future on terms we consider acceptable, if at all. If any pipelines, rail cars, trucks or vessels become unavailable, we would, to the extent possible, be required to find a suitable alternative to transport our crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas, which could increase the costs and/or reduce the revenues we might obtain from the sale of our production. A pipeline shutdown could also have an impact on safety because it would require the use of additional trucks, rail cars and personnel. In addition, both the cost and availability of pipelines, rail cars, trucks or vessels to transport our production could be adversely impacted by new state or federal regulations relating to transportation of crude oil. Any significant change in market, regulatory or other conditions affecting our access to, or the availability of, these facilities and equipment, including due to our failure or inability to obtain access to these facilities and equipment on terms acceptable to us or at all, could materially and adversely affect our business and, in turn, our financial condition and results of operations.
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Future exploration and drilling results are uncertain and involve substantial costs.
Drilling for crude oil and condensate, NGLs and natural gas involves numerous risks, including the risk that we may not encounter commercially productive reservoirs. The costs of drilling, completing and operating wells are often uncertain, and drilling operations may be curtailed, delayed or canceled as a result of a variety of factors, including:
unexpected drilling conditions;
title problems;
pressure or irregularities in formations;
equipment failures or accidents;
inflation in exploration and drilling costs;
fires, explosions, blowouts or surface cratering;
lack of, or disruption in, access to pipelines or other transportation methods; and
shortages or delays in the availability of services or delivery of equipment.
Drilling for and producing oil and natural gas are highly speculative and involve a high degree of risk, with many uncertainties that could adversely affect our business. We have not recorded significant proved reserves, and areas that we decide to drill may not yield oil or natural gas in commercial quantities or at all.
Exploring for and developing hydrocarbon reserves involves a high degree of operational and financial risk, which precludes us from definitively predicting the costs involved and time required to reach certain objectives. Our potential drilling locations are in various stages of evaluation, ranging from locations that are ready to drill, to locations that will require substantial additional interpretation before they can be drilled. The budgeted costs of planning, drilling, completing and operating wells are often exceeded, and such costs can increase significantly due to various complications that may arise during the drilling and operating processes. Before a well is spudded, we may incur significant geological and geophysical (seismic) costs, which are incurred whether a well eventually produces commercial quantities of hydrocarbons or is drilled at all. Exploration wells bear a much greater risk of loss than development wells. The analogies we draw from available data from other wells, more fully explored locations or producing fields may not be applicable to our drilling locations. If our actual drilling and development costs are significantly more than our estimated costs, we may not be able to continue our operations as proposed and could be forced to modify our drilling plans accordingly.
If we decide to drill a certain location, there is a risk that no commercially productive oil or natural gas reservoirs will be found or produced. We may drill or participate in new wells that are not productive. We may drill wells that are productive, but that do not produce sufficient net revenues to return a profit after drilling, operating and other costs. There is no way to predict in advance of drilling and testing whether any particular location will yield oil or natural gas in sufficient quantities to recover exploration, drilling or completion costs or to be economically viable. Even if sufficient amounts of oil or natural gas exist, we may damage the potentially productive hydrocarbon-bearing formation or experience mechanical difficulties while drilling or completing the well, resulting in a reduction in production and reserves from the well or abandonment of the well. Whether a well is ultimately productive and profitable depends on a number of additional factors, including the following:
general economic and industry conditions, including the prices received for oil and natural gas;
shortages of, or delays in, obtaining equipment, including hydraulic fracturing equipment, and qualified personnel;
potential significant water production which could make a producing well uneconomic;
potential drainage by operators on adjacent properties;
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loss of, or damage to, oilfield development and service tools;
problems with title to the underlying properties;
increases in severance taxes;
adverse weather conditions that delay drilling activities or cause producing wells to be shut down;
domestic and foreign governmental regulations; and
proximity to and capacity of transportation facilities.
If we do not drill productive and profitable wells in the future, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.
Our success is dependent on the prices of oil, NGLs and natural gas. Low oil or natural gas prices and the substantial volatility in these prices have adversely affected, and are expected to continue to adversely affect, our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our capital expenditure requirements and financial obligations.
The prices we receive for our oil, NGLs and natural gas heavily influence our revenue, profitability, cash flow available for capital expenditures, access to capital and future rate of growth. Oil, NGLs and natural gas are commodities and, therefore, their prices are subject to wide fluctuations in response to relatively minor changes in supply and demand. Historically, the commodities market has been volatile. For example, the price of crude oil has experienced significant volatility over the last five years, with the price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate (“ WTI ”) crude rising from a low of $42 in June 2017 to a high of $76 in October 2018, then, in 2020, dropping below $20 per barrel due in part to reduced global demand stemming from the global COVID-19 outbreak, and surging to over $120 a barrel in early March 2022, following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. Prices for natural gas and NGLs experienced declines of similar magnitude. An extended period of continued lower oil prices, or additional price declines, will have further adverse effects on us. The prices we receive for our production, and the levels of our production, will continue to depend on numerous factors, including the following:
the domestic and foreign supply of oil, NGLs and natural gas;
the domestic and foreign demand for oil, NGLs and natural gas;
the prices and availability of competitors’ supplies of oil, NGLs and natural gas;
the actions of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, and state-controlled oil companies relating to oil price and production controls;
the price and quantity of foreign imports of oil, NGLs and natural gas;
the impact of U.S. dollar exchange rates on oil, NGLs and natural gas prices;
domestic and foreign governmental regulations and taxes;
speculative trading of oil, NGLs and natural gas futures contracts;
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localized supply and demand fundamentals, including the availability, proximity and capacity of gathering and transportation systems for natural gas;
the availability of refining capacity;
the prices and availability of alternative fuel sources;
the threat, or perceived threat, or results, of viral pandemics, for example, as experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021;
weather conditions and natural disasters;
political conditions in or affecting oil, NGLs and natural gas producing regions and/or pipelines, including in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America, for example, as experienced with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022, which conflict is ongoing;
the continued threat of terrorism and the impact of military action and civil unrest;
public pressure on, and legislative and regulatory interest within, federal, state and local governments to stop, significantly limit or regulate hydraulic fracturing activities;
the level of global oil, NGL and natural gas inventories and exploration and production activity;
authorization of exports from the Unites States of liquefied natural gas;
the impact of energy conservation efforts;
technological advances affecting energy consumption; and
overall worldwide economic conditions.
Declines in oil, NGL or natural gas prices have not, and will not, only reduce our revenue, but have and will reduce the amount of oil, NGL and natural gas that we can produce economically. Should natural gas, NGL or oil prices decline from current levels and remain there for an extended period of time, we may choose to shut-in our operated wells, delay some or all of our exploration and development plans for our prospects, or to cease exploration or development activities on certain prospects due to the anticipated unfavorable economics from such activities, and, as a result, we may have to make substantial downward adjustments to our estimated proved reserves, each of which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Future conditions might require us to incur impairments or make write-downs in our assets, which would adversely affect our balance sheet and results of operations.
We review our long-lived tangible and intangible assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. In the future we may be required to impair our assets and we would then be required to write-off all or a portion of our costs for such assets. Future significant write-offs would adversely affect our balance sheet and results of operations.
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Declining general economic, business or industry conditions have, and will continue to have, a material adverse effect on our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition, and are expected to continue having a material adverse effect for the foreseeable future.
Concerns over global economic conditions, the duration and effects of future pandemics, and the results thereof, energy costs, geopolitical issues (including, but not limited to the current Ukraine/Russia conflict), inflation, increasing interest rates and the availability and cost of credit have contributed to increased economic uncertainty and diminished expectations for the global economy. These factors, combined with volatile prices of oil and natural gas, and declining business and consumer confidence, have precipitated an economic slowdown, which could expand to a recession or global depression. If the economic climate in the United States or abroad deteriorates, demand for petroleum products could diminish, which could further impact the price at which we can sell our oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, affect the ability of our vendors, suppliers and customers to continue operations, and ultimately adversely impact our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition to a greater extent that it has already.
Our exploration, development and exploitation projects require substantial capital expenditures that may exceed cash on hand, cash flows from operations and potential borrowings, and we may be unable to obtain needed capital on satisfactory terms, which could adversely affect our future growth.
Our exploration and development activities are capital intensive. We make and expect to continue to make substantial capital expenditures in our business for the development, exploitation, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas reserves. Our cash on hand, our operating cash flows and future potential borrowings may not be adequate to fund our future acquisitions or future capital expenditure requirements. The rate of our future growth may be dependent, at least in part, on our ability to access capital at rates and on terms we determine to be acceptable.
Our cash flows from operations and access to capital are subject to a number of variables, including:
our estimated proved oil and natural gas reserves;
the amount of oil and natural gas we produce from existing wells;
the prices at which we sell our production;
the costs of developing and producing our oil and natural gas reserves;
our ability to acquire, locate and produce new reserves;
the general state of the economy;
the ability and willingness of banks to lend to us; and
our ability to access the equity and debt capital markets.
In addition, future events, such as terrorist attacks, wars, threat of wars, or combat peace-keeping missions, financial market disruptions, general economic recessions, oil and natural gas industry recessions, large company bankruptcies, accounting scandals, pandemic diseases, overstated reserves estimates by major public oil companies and disruptions in the financial and capital markets have caused financial institutions, credit rating agencies and the public to more closely review the financial statements, capital structures and earnings of public companies, including energy companies. Such events have constrained the capital available to the energy industry in the past, and such events or similar events could adversely affect our access to funding for our operations in the future.
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If our revenues decrease as a result of lower oil and natural gas prices, operating difficulties, declines in reserves or for any other reason, we may have limited ability to obtain the capital necessary to sustain our operations at current levels, further develop and exploit our current properties or invest in additional exploration opportunities. Alternatively, a significant improvement in oil and natural gas prices or other factors could result in an increase in our capital expenditures, and we may be required to alter or increase our capitalization substantially through the issuance of debt or equity securities, the sale of production payments, the sale or farm out of interests in our assets, the borrowing of funds or otherwise to meet any increase in capital needs. If we are unable to raise additional capital from available sources at acceptable terms, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected. Further, future debt financings may require that a portion of our cash flows provided by operating activities be used for the payment of principal and interest on our debt, thereby reducing our ability to use cash flows to fund working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions. Debt financing may involve covenants that restrict our business activities. If we succeed in selling additional equity securities to raise funds, at such time the ownership percentage of our existing stockholders would be diluted, and new investors may demand rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. If we choose to farm-out interests in our prospects, we may lose operating control over such prospects.
Our oil and natural gas reserves are estimated and may not reflect the actual volumes of oil and natural gas we will receive, and significant inaccuracies in these reserve estimates or underlying assumptions will materially affect the quantities and present value of our reserves.
The process of estimating accumulations of oil and natural gas is complex and is not exact, due to numerous inherent uncertainties. The process relies on interpretations of available geological, geophysical, engineering and production data. The extent, quality and reliability of this technical data can vary. The process also requires certain economic assumptions related to, among other things, oil and natural gas prices, drilling and operating expenses, capital expenditures, taxes and availability of funds. The accuracy of a reserves estimate is a function of:
the quality and quantity of available data;
the interpretation of that data;
the judgment of the persons preparing the estimate; and
the accuracy of the assumptions.
The accuracy of any estimates of proved reserves generally increases with the length of the production history. Due to the limited production history of our properties, the estimates of future production associated with these properties may be subject to greater variance to actual production than would be the case with properties having a longer production history. As our wells produce over time and more data is available, the estimated proved reserves will be re-determined on at least an annual basis and may be adjusted to reflect new information based upon our actual production history, results of exploration and development, prevailing oil and natural gas prices and other factors.
Actual future production, oil and natural gas prices, revenues, taxes, development expenditures, operating expenses and quantities of recoverable oil and natural gas most likely will vary from our estimates. It is possible that future production declines in our wells may be greater than we have estimated. Any significant variance to our estimates could materially affect the quantities and present value of our reserves.
We may have accidents, equipment failures or mechanical problems while drilling or completing wells or in production activities, which could adversely affect our business.
While we are drilling and completing wells or involved in production activities, we may have accidents or experience equipment failures or mechanical problems in a well that cause us to be unable to drill and complete the well or to continue to produce the well according to our plans. We may also damage a potentially hydrocarbon-bearing formation during drilling and completion operations. Such incidents may result in a reduction of our production and reserves from the well or in abandonment of the well.
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Our operations are subject to operational hazards and unforeseen interruptions for which we may not be adequately insured.
There are numerous operational hazards inherent in oil and natural gas exploration, development, production and gathering, including:
unusual or unexpected geologic formations;
natural disasters;
adverse weather conditions;
unanticipated pressures;
loss of drilling fluid circulation;
blowouts where oil or natural gas flows uncontrolled at a wellhead;
cratering or collapse of the formation;
pipe or cement leaks, failures or casing collapses;
fires or explosions;
releases of hazardous substances or other waste materials that cause environmental damage;
pressures or irregularities in formations; and
equipment failures or accidents.
In addition, there is an inherent risk of incurring significant environmental costs and liabilities in the performance of our operations, some of which may be material, due to our handling of petroleum hydrocarbons and wastes, our emissions to air and water, the underground injection or other disposal of our wastes, the use of hydraulic fracturing fluids and historical industry operations and waste disposal practices.
Any of these or other similar occurrences could result in the disruption or impairment of our operations, substantial repair costs, personal injury or loss of human life, significant damage to property, environmental pollution and substantial revenue losses. The location of our wells, gathering systems, pipelines and other facilities near populated areas, including residential areas, commercial business centers and industrial sites, could significantly increase the level of damages resulting from these risks. Insurance against all operational risks is not available to us. We are not fully insured against all risks, including development and completion risks that are generally not recoverable from third parties or insurance. In addition, pollution and environmental risks generally are not fully insurable. With respect to our other non-operated assets, we may elect not to obtain insurance if we believe that the cost of available insurance is excessive relative to the perceived risks presented. Losses could, therefore, occur for uninsurable or uninsured risks or in amounts in excess of existing insurance coverage. Moreover, insurance may not be available in the future at commercially reasonable prices or on commercially reasonable terms. Changes in the insurance markets due to various factors may make it more difficult for us to obtain certain types of coverage in the future. As a result, we may not be able to obtain the levels or types of insurance we would otherwise have obtained prior to these market changes, and the insurance coverage we do obtain may not cover certain hazards or all potential losses that are currently covered and may be subject to large deductibles. Losses and liabilities from uninsured and underinsured events and delays in the payment of insurance proceeds could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Unless we replace our oil and natural gas reserves, our reserves and production will decline, which will adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The rate of production from our oil and natural gas properties will decline as our reserves are depleted. Our future oil and natural gas reserves and production and, therefore, our income and cash flow, are highly dependent on our success in (a) efficiently developing and exploiting our current reserves on properties owned by us or by other persons or entities and (b) economically finding or acquiring additional oil and natural gas producing properties. In the future, we may have difficulty acquiring new properties. During periods of low oil and/or natural gas prices, it will become more difficult to raise the capital necessary to finance expansion activities. If we are unable to replace our production, our reserves will decrease, and our business, financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.
Our strategy includes acquisitions of oil and natural gas properties, and our failure to identify or complete future acquisitions successfully, or not produce projected revenues associated with the future acquisitions could reduce our earnings and hamper our growth.
We may be unable to identify properties for acquisition or to make acquisitions on terms that we consider economically acceptable. There is intense competition for acquisition opportunities in our industry. Competition for acquisitions may increase the cost of, or cause us to refrain from, completing acquisitions. The completion and pursuit of acquisitions may be dependent upon, among other things, our ability to obtain debt and equity financing and, in some cases, regulatory approvals. Our ability to grow through acquisitions will require us to continue to invest in operations, financial and management information systems and to attract, retain, motivate and effectively manage our employees. The inability to manage the integration of acquisitions effectively could reduce our focus on subsequent acquisitions and current operations and could negatively impact our results of operations and growth potential. Our financial position and results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period as a result of the completion of significant acquisitions during particular periods. If we are not successful in identifying or acquiring any material property interests, our earnings could be reduced and our growth could be restricted.
We may engage in bidding and negotiating to complete successful acquisitions. We may be required to alter or increase substantially our capitalization to finance these acquisitions through the use of cash on hand, the issuance of debt or equity securities, the sale of production payments, the sale of non-strategic assets, the borrowing of funds or otherwise. If we were to proceed with one or more acquisitions involving the issuance of our common stock, our stockholders would suffer dilution of their interests. Furthermore, our decision to acquire properties that are substantially different in operating or geologic characteristics or geographic locations from areas with which our staff is familiar may impact our productivity in such areas.
We may not be able to produce the projected revenues related to future acquisitions. There are many assumptions related to the projection of the revenues of future acquisitions including, but not limited to, drilling success, oil and natural gas prices, production decline curves and other data. If revenues from future acquisitions do not meet projections, this could adversely affect our business and financial condition.
We may purchase oil and natural gas properties with liabilities or risks that we did not know about or that we did not assess correctly, and, as a result, we could be subject to liabilities that could adversely affect our results of operations.
Before acquiring oil and natural gas properties, we estimate the reserves, future oil and natural gas prices, operating costs, potential environmental liabilities and other factors relating to the properties. However, our review involves many assumptions and estimates, and their accuracy is inherently uncertain. As a result, we may not discover all existing or potential problems associated with the properties we buy. We may not become sufficiently familiar with the properties to assess fully their deficiencies and capabilities. We do not generally perform inspections on every well or property, and we may not be able to observe mechanical and environmental problems even when we conduct an inspection. The seller may not be willing or financially able to give us contractual protection against any identified problems, and we may decide to assume environmental and other liabilities in connection with properties we acquire. If we acquire properties with risks or liabilities we did not know about or that we did not assess correctly, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected as we settle claims and incur cleanup costs related to these liabilities.
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We may incur losses or costs as a result of title deficiencies in the properties in which we invest.
If an examination of the title history of a property that we have purchased reveals an oil and natural gas lease has been purchased in error from a person who is not the owner of the property, our interest would be worthless. In such an instance, the amount paid for such oil and natural gas lease as well as any royalties paid pursuant to the terms of the lease prior to the discovery of the title defect would be lost.
Prior to the drilling of an oil and natural gas well, it is the normal practice in the oil and natural gas industry for the person or company acting as the operator of the well to obtain a preliminary title review of the spacing unit within which the proposed oil and natural gas well is to be drilled to ensure there are no obvious deficiencies in title to the well. Frequently, as a result of such examinations, certain curative work must be done to correct deficiencies in the marketability of the title, and such curative work entails expense. Our failure to cure any title defects may adversely impact our ability in the future to increase production and reserves. In the future, we may suffer a monetary loss from title defects or title failure. Additionally, unproved and unevaluated acreage has greater risk of title defects than developed acreage. If there are any title defects or defects in assignment of leasehold rights in properties in which we hold an interest, we will suffer a financial loss which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The unavailability or high cost of drilling rigs, completion equipment and services, supplies and personnel, including hydraulic fracturing equipment and personnel, could adversely affect our ability to establish and execute exploration and development plans within budget and on a timely basis, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Shortages or the high cost of drilling rigs, completion equipment and services, supplies or personnel could delay or adversely affect our operations. When drilling activity in the United States increases, associated costs typically also increase, including those costs related to drilling rigs, equipment, supplies and personnel and the services and products of other vendors to the industry. These costs may increase, and necessary equipment and services may become unavailable to us at economical prices. Should this increase in costs occur, we may delay drilling activities, which may limit our ability to establish and replace reserves, or we may incur these higher costs, which may negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, in the past, the demand for hydraulic fracturing services has exceeded the availability of fracturing equipment and crews across the industry and in our operating areas in particular. The accelerated wear and tear of hydraulic fracturing equipment due to its deployment in unconventional oil and natural gas fields characterized by longer lateral lengths and larger numbers of fracturing stages may further amplify this equipment and crew shortage. Although we believe there is currently sufficient supply of hydraulic fracturing services, if demand for fracturing services increases or the supply of fracturing equipment and crews decreases, then higher costs could result and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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The marketability of our production is dependent upon oil and natural gas gathering and transportation and storage facilities owned and operated by third parties, and the unavailability of satisfactory oil and natural gas transportation arrangements have had a material adverse effect on our revenue in the past and may again in the future.
The unavailability of satisfactory oil and natural gas transportation arrangements has in the past hindered our access to oil and natural gas markets and has delayed production from our wells. The availability of a ready market for our oil and natural gas production depends on a number of factors, including the demand for, and supply of, oil and natural gas and the proximity of reserves to pipelines, terminal facilities and storage facilities. Our ability to market our production depends in substantial part on the availability and capacity of gathering systems, pipelines and processing facilities owned and operated by third parties. Our failure to obtain these services on acceptable terms has in the past, and could in the future, materially harm our business. In the past we have, and in the future, we may be required to, shut-in wells for lack of a market or because of inadequacy or unavailability of pipeline or gathering system capacity. When this occurs, we are unable to realize revenue from those wells until the market for oil and gas increases and/or until production arrangements are made to deliver our production to market. Furthermore, we are obligated to pay shut-in royalties to certain mineral interest owners in order to maintain our leases with respect to certain shut-in wells. We do not expect to purchase firm transportation capacity on third-party facilities. Therefore, we expect the transportation of our production to be generally interruptible in nature and lower in priority to those having firm transportation arrangements.
The disruption of third-party facilities due to maintenance and/or weather could negatively impact our ability to market and deliver our products. The third parties’ control when or if such facilities are restored after disruption, and what prices will be charged for products. Federal and state regulation of oil and natural gas production and transportation, tax and energy policies, changes in supply and demand, pipeline pressures, damage to or destruction of pipelines and general economic conditions could adversely affect our ability to produce, gather and transport oil and natural gas.
An increase in the differential between the NYMEX or other benchmark prices of oil and natural gas and the wellhead price we receive for our production has adversely affected our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The prices that we will receive for our oil and natural gas production sometimes may reflect a discount to the relevant benchmark prices, such as the New York Mercantile Exchange (“ NYMEX ”), that are used for calculating hedge positions. The difference between the benchmark price and the prices we receive is called a differential. Increases in the differential between the benchmark prices for oil and natural gas and the wellhead price we receive has recently adversely affected, and is anticipated to continue to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not have, and may not have in the future, any derivative contracts or hedging covering the amount of the basis differentials we experience in respect of our production. As such, we will be exposed to any increase in such differentials.
Competition in the oil and natural gas industry is intense, making it difficult for us to acquire properties, market oil and natural gas and secure trained personnel.
Our ability to acquire additional prospects and to find and develop reserves in the future will depend on our ability to evaluate and select suitable properties and to consummate transactions in a highly competitive environment for acquiring properties, marketing oil and natural gas and securing trained personnel. Also, there is substantial competition for capital available for investment in the oil and natural gas industry. Many of our competitors possess and employ financial, technical and personnel resources substantially greater than ours, and many of our competitors have more established presences in the United States than we have. Those companies may be able to pay more for productive oil and natural gas properties and exploratory prospects and to evaluate, bid for and purchase a greater number of properties and prospects than our financial or personnel resources permit. In addition, other companies may be able to offer better compensation packages to attract and retain qualified personnel than we are able to offer. The cost to attract and retain qualified personnel has increased in recent years due to competition and may increase substantially in the future. We may not be able to compete successfully in the future in acquiring prospective reserves, developing reserves, marketing hydrocarbons, attracting and retaining quality personnel and raising additional capital, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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Our competitors may use superior technology and data resources that we may be unable to afford or that would require a costly investment by us in order to compete with them more effectively.
Our industry is subject to rapid and significant advancements in technology, including the introduction of new products and services using new technologies and databases. As our competitors use or develop new technologies, we may be placed at a competitive disadvantage, and competitive pressures may force us to implement new technologies at a substantial cost. In addition, many of our competitors will have greater financial, technical and personnel resources that allow them to enjoy technological advantages and may in the future allow them to implement new technologies before we can. We cannot be certain that we will be able to implement technologies on a timely basis or at a cost that is acceptable to us. One or more of the technologies that we will use or that we may implement in the future may become obsolete, and we may be adversely affected.
If we do not hedge our exposure to reductions in oil and natural gas prices, we may be subject to significant reductions in prices. Alternatively, we may use oil and natural gas price hedging contracts, which involve credit risk and may limit future revenues from price increases and result in significant fluctuations in our profitability.
In the event that we continue to choose not to hedge our exposure to reductions in oil and natural gas prices by purchasing futures and/or by using other hedging strategies, we may be subject to a significant reduction in prices which could have a material negative impact on our profitability. Alternatively, we may elect to use hedging transactions with respect to a portion of our oil and natural gas production to achieve more predictable cash flow and to reduce our exposure to price fluctuations. While the use of hedging transactions limits the downside risk of price declines, their use also may limit future revenues from price increases. Hedging transactions also involve the risk that the counterparty may be unable to satisfy its obligations.
Uncertainties associated with enhanced recovery methods may result in us not realizing an acceptable return on our investments in such projects.
Production and reserves, if any, attributable to the use of enhanced recovery methods are inherently difficult to predict. If our enhanced recovery methods do not allow for the extraction of crude oil, natural gas, and associated liquids in a manner or to the extent that we anticipate, we may not realize an acceptable return on our investments in such projects. In addition, as proposed legislation and regulatory initiatives relating to hydraulic fracturing become law, the cost of some of these enhanced recovery methods could increase substantially.
Competition for hydraulic fracturing services and water disposal could impede our ability to develop our oil and gas plays.
The unavailability or high cost of high-pressure pumping services (or hydraulic fracturing services), chemicals, proppant, water and water disposal and related services and equipment could limit our ability to execute our exploration and development plans on a timely basis and within our budget. The U.S. oil and natural gas industry is experiencing a growing emphasis on the exploitation and development of shale natural gas and shale oil resource plays, which are dependent on hydraulic fracturing for economically successful development. Hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas plays requires high pressure pumping service crews. A shortage of service crews or proppant, chemical, water or water disposal options, could materially and adversely affect our operations and the timeliness of executing our development plans within our budget.
Our operations are substantially dependent on the availability of water. Restrictions on our ability to obtain water may have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Water is an essential component of shale oil and natural gas production during both the drilling and hydraulic fracturing processes. Historically, we have been able to purchase water from local land owners for use in our operations. When drought conditions occur, governmental authorities may restrict the use of water subject to their jurisdiction for hydraulic fracturing to protect local water supplies. If we are unable to obtain water to use in our operations from local sources or dispose of or recycle water used in operations, or if the price of water or water disposal increases significantly, we may be unable to produce oil and natural gas economically, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
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Improvements in or new discoveries of alternative energy technologies could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
Because our operations depend on the demand for oil and used oil, any improvement in or new discoveries of alternative energy technologies (such as wind, solar, geothermal, fuel cells and biofuels) that increase the use of alternative forms of energy and reduce the demand for oil, gas and oil and gas related products could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We also face competition from competing energy sources, such as renewable energy sources.
Competition due to advances in renewable fuels may lessen the demand for our products and negatively impact our profitability.
Alternatives to petroleum-based products and production methods are continually under development. For example, a number of automotive, industrial and power generation manufacturers are developing alternative clean power systems using fuel cells or clean-burning gaseous fuels that may address increasing worldwide energy costs, the long-term availability of petroleum reserves and environmental concerns, which if successful could lower the demand for oil and gas. If these non-petroleum-based products and oil alternatives continue to expand and gain broad acceptance such that the overall demand for oil and gas is decreased, it could have an adverse effect on our operations and the value of our assets.
Future litigation or governmental proceedings could result in material adverse consequences, including judgments or settlements.
From time to time, we are involved in lawsuits, regulatory inquiries and may be involved in governmental and other legal proceedings arising out of the ordinary course of our business. Many of these matters raise difficult and complicated factual and legal issues and are subject to uncertainties and complexities. The timing of the final resolutions to these types of matters is often uncertain. Additionally, the possible outcomes or resolutions to these matters could include adverse judgments or settlements, either of which could require substantial payments, adversely affecting our results of operations and liquidity.
We may be subject in the normal course of business to judicial, administrative or other third-party proceedings that could interrupt or limit our operations, require expensive remediation, result in adverse judgments, settlements or fines and create negative publicity.
Governmental agencies may, among other things, impose fines or penalties on us relating to the conduct of our business, attempt to revoke or deny renewal of our operating permits, franchises or licenses for violations or alleged violations of environmental laws or regulations or as a result of third-party challenges, require us to install additional pollution control equipment or require us to remediate potential environmental problems relating to any real property that we or our predecessors ever owned, leased or operated or any waste that we or our predecessors ever collected, transported, disposed of or stored. Individuals, citizens groups, trade associations or environmental activists may also bring actions against us in connection with our operations that could interrupt or limit the scope of our business. Any adverse outcome in such proceedings could harm our operations and financial results and create negative publicity, which could damage our reputation, competitive position and stock price. We may also be required to take corrective actions, including, but not limited to, installing additional equipment, which could require us to make substantial capital expenditures. We could also be required to indemnify our employees in connection with any expenses or liabilities that they may incur individually in connection with regulatory action against us. These could result in a material adverse effect on our prospects, business, financial condition and our results of operations.
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Part of our strategy involves drilling in existing or emerging oil and gas plays using some of the latest available horizontal drilling and completion techniques. The results of our planned exploratory drilling in these plays are subject to drilling and completion technique risks, and drilling results may not meet our expectations for reserves or production. As a result, we may incur material write-downs and the value of our undeveloped acreage could decline if drilling results are unsuccessful.
Our operations involve utilizing the latest drilling and completion techniques in order to maximize cumulative recoveries and therefore generate the highest possible returns. The additional risks that we face while drilling horizontally include, but are not limited to, the following:
drilling wells that are significantly longer and/or deeper than more conventional wells;
landing our wellbore in the desired drilling zone;
staying in the desired drilling zone while drilling horizontally through the formation;
running our casing the entire length of the wellbore; and
being able to run tools and other equipment consistently through the horizontal wellbore.
Risks that we face while completing our wells include, but are not limited to, the following:
the ability to fracture stimulate the planned number of stages in a horizontal or lateral well bore;
the ability to run tools the entire length of the wellbore during completion operations; and
the ability to successfully clean out the wellbore after completion of the final fracture stimulation stage.
The results of our drilling in new or emerging formations will be more uncertain initially than drilling results in areas that are more developed and have a longer history of established production. Newer or emerging formations and areas have limited or no production history and consequently we are less able to predict future drilling results in these areas. Ultimately, the success of these drilling and completion techniques can only be evaluated over time as more wells are drilled and production profiles are established over a sufficiently long time period. If our drilling results are less than anticipated or we are unable to execute our drilling program because of capital constraints, lease expirations, limited access to gathering systems and takeaway capacity, and/or prices for crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs decline, then the return on our investment for a particular project may not be as attractive as we anticipated and we could incur material write-downs of oil and gas properties and the value of our undeveloped acreage could decline in the future.
Prospects that we decide to drill may not yield oil or natural gas in commercially viable quantities.
Our prospects are in various stages of evaluation, ranging from prospects that are currently being drilled to prospects that will require substantial additional seismic data processing and interpretation. There is no way to predict in advance of drilling and testing whether any particular prospect will yield oil or natural gas in sufficient quantities to recover drilling or completion costs or to be economically viable. This risk may be enhanced in our situation, due to the fact that a significant percentage of our reserves is undeveloped. The use of seismic data and other technologies and the study of producing fields in the same area will not enable us to know conclusively prior to drilling whether oil or natural gas will be present or, if present, whether oil or natural gas will be present in commercial quantities. We cannot assure you that the analogies we draw from available data obtained by analyzing other wells, more fully explored prospects or producing fields will be applicable to our drilling prospects.
We are subject to various climate-related risks, including risks related to the transition to a lower-carbon economy and physical risks resulting from climate change.
The following is a summary of potential climate-related risks that could adversely affect us:
Policy and Legal Risks . Policy risks include actions that seek to lessen activities that contribute to adverse effects of climate change or to promote adaptation to climate change, such as the enactment of climate change-related regulations, policies and initiatives addressing alternative energy requirements, new fuel consumption standards, energy conservation and emissions reductions measures or responsible energy development, among other measures. Policy actions also may include restrictions or bans on oil and gas activities, like the January 2021 Presidential and Secretarial orders, and the potential banning of hydraulic fracturing, which could lead to write-downs or impairments of our assets. Legal risks include potential lawsuits claiming, among other things, failure to mitigate impacts of climate change, failure to adapt to climate change and the insufficiency of disclosure around material financial risks. For instance, government entities and other groups have filed lawsuits in several states seeking to hold a wide variety of companies that produce fossil fuels liable for the alleged impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions and other alleged harm attributable to those fuels. The lawsuits allege damages as a result of global warming and the plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages and abatement under various theories..
Market Risks . Markets could be affected by climate change through shifts in supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and gas and other products dependent on oil and gas. Lower demand for our oil and gas production, or lower demand for products that use oil and gas as fuel sources or increased demand for lower-emission or more efficient products and services, could result in lower prices and lower revenues. Market risk also may take the form of limited access to capital as investors shift investments to industries and alternative energy industries that may be, or be perceived to be, less carbon-intensive. In addition, certain investment advisers, banks and sovereign wealth, pension and endowment funds recently have been promoting divestment of investments in fossil fuel companies and pressuring lenders to limit funding to companies engaged in the extraction, production and sale of oil and gas. Some banks and asset managers have made climate-related pledges for various initiatives, such as stopping the financing of Arctic drilling and coal companies. These initiatives by activists and banks could interfere with our business activities, operations and ability to access capital. Institutional lenders who provide financing to energy companies such as ours have also become more attentive to sustainable lending practices, and some may elect not to provide traditional energy producers or companies that support such producers with funding.
Technology Risks . Technological improvements or innovations that support the transition to a lower-carbon economic system may have a significant impact on us. The development and use of emerging technologies in renewable energy, battery storage, and energy efficiency may lower demand for oil and gas, resulting in lower prices and revenues. In addition, many automobile manufacturers have announced plans to shift production from internal combustion engine to electric powered vehicles, and some states and foreign countries have announced bans on sales of internal combustion engine vehicles beginning as early as 2025, which would reduce demand for oil.
Reputation Risk . Climate change is a potential source of reputational risk, which is tied to changing customer or community perceptions of an organization’s contribution to, or detraction from, the transition to a lower-carbon economy. These changing perceptions could lower demand for our oil and gas production, resulting in lower prices and lower revenues as consumers avoid carbon-intensive industries, and could also pressure banks and investment managers to shift investments and reduce lending as described above.
Physical Risks . Potential physical risks resulting from climate change may be event driven (including increased severity of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, winter storms, droughts or floods) or longer-term shifts in climate patterns that may cause sea level rise or chronic heat waves. Potential physical risks may cause direct damage to assets and indirect impacts such as supply or distribution chain disruption and also could include changes in water or other raw material availability, sourcing, pricing and quality, which could impact drilling and completions operations. These physical risks could adversely affect or delay demand for oil or natural gas, cause increased costs, production disruptions and lower revenues and substantially increase the cost or limit the availability of insurance.
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Volatility in seasonal temperatures . The market for natural gas is generally improved by periods of colder weather and impaired by periods of warmer weather, so any changes in climate could affect the market for the fuels that we produce. As a result, if there is an overall trend of warmer temperatures, it would be expected to have an adverse effect on our business.
Efforts by governments, international bodies, businesses and consumers to reduce GHGs and otherwise mitigate the effects of climate change are ongoing. The nature of these efforts and their effects on our business are inherently unpredictable and subject to change. However, actions taken by private parties in anticipation of, or to facilitate, a transition to a lower-GHG economy will affect us as well. For example, our cost of capital may increase if lenders or other market participants decline to invest in fossil fuel-related companies for regulatory or reputational reasons. Similarly, increased demand for low-carbon or renewable energy sources from consumers could reduce the demand for, and the price of, the products we produce. Technological changes, such as developments in renewable energy and low-carbon transportation, could also adversely affect demand for our products.
Regulatory and Reporting Risks
New or amended environmental legislation or regulatory initiatives could result in increased costs, additional operating restrictions, or delays, or have other adverse effects on us.
The environmental laws and regulations to which we are subject change frequently, often to become more burdensome and/or to increase the risk that we will be subject to significant liabilities. New or amended federal, state, or local laws or implementing regulations or orders imposing new environmental obligations on, or otherwise limiting, our operations could make it more difficult and more expensive to complete oil and natural gas wells, increase our costs of compliance and doing business, delay or prevent the development of resources (especially from shale formations that are not commercial without the use of hydraulic fracturing), or alter the demand for and consumption of our products. Any such outcome could have a material and adverse impact on our cash flows and results of operations.
The Federal Government previously instituted a moratorium on new oil and gas leases and permits on federal onshore and offshore lands, which may have a material adverse effect on the Company and its results of operations.
On January 20, 2021, the Acting U.S. Interior Secretary, instituted a moratorium on new oil and gas leases and permits on federal onshore and offshore lands, which a federal court blocked with a preliminary injunction in June 2021, which injunction is being appealed. President Biden subsequently announced that his administration will resume onshore oil and gas lease sales on federal lands effective April 18, 2022. A total of approximately 26% of the Company’s acreage in New Mexico and 1% of the Company’s acreage in Colorado are located on federal lands. It is currently unclear whether the moratorium will be reinstated, or whether such moratorium is the start of a change in federal policies regarding the grant of oil and gas permits on federal lands. The moratorium does not affect the Company, as the Company has no plans to drill new wells on any leases held on federal lands; however, if such prior moratorium was to become permanent, or the federal government in the future were to grant less permits on federal lands, make such permitting process more difficult, costly, or to institute more stringent rules relating to such permitting process, it could have a material adverse effect on the value of the Company’s leases and/or its ability to undertake oil and gas operations on such the portion of its leases on federal lands.
SEC rules could limit our ability to book additional proved undeveloped reserves (“ PUDs ”) in the future.
SEC rules require that, subject to limited exceptions, PUDs may only be booked if they relate to wells scheduled to be drilled within five years after the date of booking. This requirement has limited and may continue to limit our ability to book additional PUDs as we pursue our drilling program. Moreover, we may be required to write down our PUDs if we do not drill or plan on delaying those wells within the required five-year timeframe.
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Proposed changes to U.S. tax laws, if adopted, could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
From time to time, legislative proposals are made that would, if enacted, result in the elimination of the immediate deduction for intangible drilling and development costs, the elimination of the deduction from income for domestic production activities relating to oil and gas exploration and development, the repeal of the percentage depletion allowance for oil and gas properties, and an extension of the amortization period for certain geological and geophysical expenditures. Such changes, if adopted, or other similar changes that reduce or eliminate deductions currently available with respect to oil and gas exploration and development, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We may incur substantial costs to comply with the various federal, state, and local laws and regulations that affect our oil and natural gas operations, including as a result of the actions of third parties.
We are affected significantly by a substantial number of governmental regulations relating to, among other things, the release or disposal of materials into the environment, health and safety, land use, and other matters. A summary of the principal environmental rules and regulations to which we are currently subject is set forth in “ Part I ” - “ Item 1. Business ”. Compliance with such laws and regulations often increases our cost of doing business and thereby decreases our profitability. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of administrative, civil, and criminal penalties, the incurrence of investigatory or remedial obligations, or the issuance of cease and desist orders.
The environmental laws and regulations to which we are subject may, among other things:
require us to apply for and receive a permit before drilling commences or certain associated facilities are developed;
restrict the types, quantities, and concentrations of substances that can be released into the environment in connection with drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and production activities;
limit or prohibit drilling activities on certain lands lying within wilderness, wetlands and other “ waters of the United States, ” threatened and endangered species habitat, and other protected areas;
require remedial measures to mitigate pollution from former operations, such as plugging abandoned wells;
require us to add procedures and/or staff in order to comply with applicable laws and regulations; and
impose substantial liabilities for pollution resulting from our operations.
In addition, we could face liability under applicable environmental laws and regulations as a result of the activities of previous owners of our properties or other third parties. For example, over the years, we have owned or leased numerous properties for oil and natural gas activities upon which petroleum hydrocarbons or other materials may have been released by us or by predecessor property owners or lessees who were not under our control. Under applicable environmental laws and regulations, including The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act - otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund, and state laws, we could be held liable for the removal or remediation of previously released materials or property contamination at such locations, or at third-party locations to which we have sent waste, regardless of our fault, whether we were responsible for the release or whether the operations at the time of the release were lawful.
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Compliance with, or liabilities associated with violations of or remediation obligations under, environmental laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to the reporting requirements of federal securities laws, which are expensive and subject us to potential liability.
We are a public reporting company in the United States and, accordingly, subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and other federal securities laws, and the compliance obligations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The costs of preparing and filing annual and quarterly reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC and furnishing audited reports to stockholders causes our expenses to be higher than they would be if we remained a privately-held company. We could also be subject to sanctions or deregistration if we fail to keep up with or run afoul of our reporting obligations.
Our compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC rules concerning internal controls is time consuming, difficult and costly.
Because we are a reporting company with the SEC, we must comply with Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC rules concerning internal controls. It is time consuming, difficult and costly for us to develop and implement the internal controls and reporting procedures required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In order to expand our operations, we will need to hire additional financial reporting, internal control, and other finance staff in order to develop and implement appropriate internal controls and reporting procedures.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock and Securities
The issuance of common stock upon conversion of our outstanding Series A Convertible Preferred Stock will cause immediate and substantial dilution to existing shareholders.
As of the date of this Report, we have 1,000,000 outstanding shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (“ Series A Preferred Stock ”), all of which were held by Michael McLaren, the Chief Executive Officer and director of the Company. Each holder of Series A Preferred Stock may, at its option, convert its shares of Series A Preferred Stock (each a “ Series A Conversion ”) into that number of shares of common stock equal to the holder’s pro rata share of all Series A Preferred Stock then issued and outstanding, multiplied by (i) 60%, minus the aggregate percentage of the Company’s outstanding common stock previously converted by holders of the Series A Preferred Stock, through such applicable date (the “ Remaining Percentage ”)(for example, if prior to the applicable date of determination, shares of Series A Preferred Stock have been converted into 3% of the outstanding shares of common stock as of such date of determination, the Remaining Percentage would be 57%), multiplied by (ii) the outstanding shares of our common stock as of the applicable date of determination, divided by 0.40, divided by (iii) the total number of shares of Series A Preferred Stock then outstanding. No individual conversion by any individual holder shall be in an amount greater than 9.99% of the outstanding common stock of the Company on the date on which the holder delivers notice of such conversion to the Company (the “ Individual Conversion Limitation ”). The result of the above, is that such Series A Preferred Stock is convertible into 60% of the Company’s outstanding common stock (on a post-conversion basis, i.e., 150% of the Company’s outstanding common stock on a pre-conversion basis) currently. For example, based on 195,000,000 total outstanding shares of common stock, the Series A Preferred Stock has the right to convert into = 195,000,000 shares, divided by 0.40 = 487,500,000 shares, multiplied by 60% = 292,500,000 total shares of common stock (which is also the total voting rights associated with the Series A Preferred Stock).
No individual conversion by any individual holder shall be in an amount greater than 9.99% of the outstanding common stock of the Company on the date on which the holder delivers notice of such conversion to the Company (the “ Individual Conversion Limitation ”). The result of the above, is that such Series A Preferred Stock is convertible into 60% of the Company’s outstanding common stock (on a post-conversion basis, i.e., 150% of the Company’s outstanding common stock on a pre-conversion basis) currently. The conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock into common stock of the Company will cause substantial dilution to the then holders of our common stock.
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For so long as any shares of the Series A Preferred Stock remain issued and outstanding, the holders thereof, voting separately as a class, shall have the right to vote on all shareholder matters (including, but not limited to at every meeting of the stockholders of the Company and upon any action taken by stockholders of the Company with or without a meeting) equal to the Remaining Percentage of the total vote (the “ Total Series A Vote ”). For example, if there are 195,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock issued and outstanding at the time of a shareholder vote, and the Remaining Percentage is 60%, the holders of the Series A Preferred Stock, voting separately as a class, will have the right to vote an aggregate of 292,500,000 shares, out of a total number of 487,500,000 shares voting. All Series A Shares shall vote together with the common stock on all shareholder matters as its own voting class.
Shareholders who hold unregistered shares of our common stock will be subject to resale restrictions pursuant to Rule 144, if and when available, due to the fact that we are deemed to be a former “ shell company ”.
Pursuant to Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“ Rule 144 ”), a “ shell company ” is defined as a company that has no or nominal operations; and, either no or nominal assets; assets consisting solely of cash and cash equivalents; or assets consisting of any amount of cash and cash equivalents and nominal other assets. While we do not believe that we are currently a “ shell company ”, we were previously a “ shell company ” and as such are deemed to be a former “ shell company ” pursuant to Rule 144, and as such, sales of our securities pursuant to Rule 144 may not be able to be made if we are not subject to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, and have filed all of our required periodic reports for at least the previous one year period prior to any sale pursuant to Rule 144; and a period of at least twelve months has elapsed from the date “ Form 10 information ” has been filed with the Commission reflecting the Company’s status as a non-“ shell company ” (which Form 10 information was filed by the Company in August 2019). Although to date we have complied with the requirement of Rule 144 as related to “ shell companies ”, our status as a former “ shell company ” could prevent us from raising additional funds, engaging consultants, and using our securities to pay for any acquisitions in the future (although none are currently planned).
We have various outstanding convertible notes which are convertible into shares of our common stock at a discount to market.
As of December 31, 2022, we owed approximately $2,134,146 under various convertible promissory notes and as of the date of this Report we owe approximately $1,794,745 under various convertible promissory notes, many of which are in default. The conversion prices of the convertible notes are based on a discount to the market value of our common stock, subject in many cases to adjustments to the conversion prices upon defaults and anti-dilution and other rights which may result in such conversion prices declining (see also See also “Note 10 – Derivative Liabilities”, to the notes to financial statements included herein under “ Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data ”). While no conversion of the notes can occur until we increase our authorized but unissued shares of common stock (or affect the planned reverse stock split), we expect additional conversions and sales to begin occurring shortly after we are able to increase our authorized but unissued shares of common stock. As a result, any conversion of the convertible notes and sale of shares of common stock issuable in connection with the conversion thereof may cause the value of our common stock to decline in value, as described in greater detail under the Risk Factors below.
The issuance and sale of common stock upon conversion of the convertible notes may depress the market price of our common stock.
If sequential conversions of the convertible notes and sales of such converted shares take place, the price of our common stock may decline, and as a result, the holders of the convertible notes will be entitled to receive an increasing number of shares in connection with conversions, which shares could then be sold in the market, triggering further price declines and conversions for even larger numbers of shares, to the detriment of our investors. The shares of common stock which the convertible notes are convertible into may be sold without restriction pursuant to Rule 144. As a result, the sale of these shares may adversely affect the market price, if any, of our common stock.
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In addition, the common stock issuable upon conversion of the convertible notes may represent overhang that may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Overhang occurs when there is a greater supply of a company’s stock in the market than there is demand for that stock. When this happens the price of the company’s stock will decrease, and any additional shares which shareholders attempt to sell in the market will only further decrease the share price. The convertible notes will be convertible into shares of our common stock at a discount to market as described above, and such discount to market provides the holders with the ability to sell their common stock at or below market and still make a profit. In the event of such overhang, the note holders will have an incentive to sell their common stock as quickly as possible. If the share volume of our common stock cannot absorb the discounted shares, then the value of our common stock will likely decrease. Notwithstanding the above, we hope to repay the convertible notes in full before any conversions take place.
The issuance of common stock upon conversion of our outstanding convertible notes will cause immediate and substantial dilution.
The issuance of common stock upon conversion of the convertible notes will result in immediate and substantial dilution to the interests of other stockholders since the holders of the convertible notes may ultimately receive and sell the full number of shares issuable in connection with the conversion of such convertible notes. Although certain of the convertible notes may not be converted if such conversion would cause the holders thereof to own more than 4.99% or 9.99% of our outstanding common stock, this restriction does not prevent the holders of the convertible notes subject to such restrictions from converting some of their holdings, selling those shares, and then converting the rest of its holdings, while still staying below the 4.99%/9.99% limit. In this way, the holders of the convertible notes could sell more than any applicable ownership limit while never actually holding more shares than the applicable limits allow. If the holders of the convertible notes choose to do this, it will cause substantial dilution to the then holders of our common stock.
We currently have no authorized but unissued shares of common stock.
We have authorized capital stock consisting of 195,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.0001 par value per share. As of the date of this filing, we had 195,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding and no shares of common stock available for future issuance. However, effective on May 10, 2023, our majority shareholder approved the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Articles of Incorporation to increase the Company’s authorized number of shares of Common Stock from 195 million shares to one billion 995 million shares, which cannot be effective until any earlier than June 24, 2023. In the short term we believe that the cap on our outstanding shares may be a positive as it will limit the future dilution to existing shareholders as a result of the conversion of outstanding convertible notes; however, in the long term, until such time as we are able to increase our authorized shares of common stock, we anticipate that such limit may negatively affect our ability to undertake transactions which may be accretive to shareholder value. For example, until such time as our authorized shares of common stock are increased, we will not be able to use our common stock as consideration for any acquisitions. Furthermore, we will not be able to sell equity or convertible debt to raise funding or issue share-based compensation to officers, directors, employees, or consultants. All of the above may negatively affect our revenues and results of operations and cause the value of our common stock to decline in value or become worthless.
The issuance of common stock upon the increase in our authorized shares will cause immediate and substantial dilution.
Following the increase in our authorized but unissued shares of common stock as discussed above, we expect to issue an additional significant number of shares of common stock in consideration for compensation, upon conversion of outstanding convertible securities, and for other consideration as approved by the Board of Directors of the Company. Such issuances are expected to result in immediate and substantial dilution to the interests of other stockholders.
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The issuance and sale of common stock upon conversion of our outstanding Series A Preferred Stock may depress the market price of our common stock.
If conversions of our outstanding Series A Preferred Stock and sales of such converted shares take place, the price of our common stock may decline. In addition, the common stock issuable upon conversion of our outstanding Series A Preferred Stock may represent overhang that may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Overhang occurs when there is a greater supply of a company’s stock in the market than there is demand for that stock. When this happens the price of the company’s stock will decrease, and any additional shares which shareholders attempt to sell in the market will only further decrease the share price. If the share volume of our common stock cannot absorb converted shares sold by the holder of the Series A Preferred Stock, then the value of our common stock will likely decrease.
The continuously adjustable conversion price feature of the convertible notes could require us to issue a substantially greater number of shares, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and cause dilution to our existing stockholders.
Our existing stockholders will experience substantial dilution upon any conversion of the convertible notes. The convertible notes are convertible into shares of common stock at a conversion price equal to a discount to the market value of our common stock as described above. As a result, the number of shares issuable could prove to be significantly greater in the event of a decrease in the trading price of our common stock, which decrease would cause substantial dilution to our existing stockholders. As sequential conversions and sales take place, the price of our common stock may decline, and if so, the holders of the convertible notes would be entitled to receive an increasing number of shares, which could then be sold, triggering further price declines and conversions for even larger numbers of shares, which would cause additional dilution to our existing stockholders and would likely cause the value of our common stock to decline.
We could face significant penalties for our failure to comply with the terms of our outstanding convertible notes.
Our various convertible notes contain positive and negative covenants and customary events of default including requiring us in many cases to timely file SEC reports. In the event we fail to timely file our SEC reports in the future, or any other events of defaults occur under the notes, we could face significant penalties and/or liquidated damages and/or the conversion price of such notes could be adjusted downward significantly, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition, or cause any investment in the Company to decline in value or become worthless.
Certain of our outstanding warrants to purchase shares of common stock and convertible note contain anti-dilution rights and favored nation rights, and certain of our securities purchase agreements include favored nations rights.
We have outstanding warrants to purchase 387,560 shares of common stock which were originally granted with exercise prices at $0.004 per share, include anti-dilution and favored nations rights. Pursuant to such rights, subject to certain exceptions, in the event we issued securities below the then exercise price, the exercise price of the warrants is reduced to the lower of such dilutive issuance or the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of our common stock on the next trading day following the first public disclosure of such dilutive issuance, subject to certain exceptions which may reduce such exercise price further in certain cases, including the issuance of units. Certain of these warrants also include anti-dilution rights which provides for a reduction of the exercise price to match the price per share of any dilutive issuance made while the warrant is outstanding, subject to certain exceptions.
Pursuant to the Greentree Financial Group, Inc. (“ GreenTree ”) convertible note , if at any time while the note is outstanding, the Company grants, issues or sells any common stock, options to purchase common stock, securities convertible into common stock or rights relating to common stock (the “ Purchase Rights ”) to any person, entity, association, or other organization other than GreenTree, at a price per share less than the conversion price then in effect, then the conversion price is automatically reduced to match the price per share of the Purchase Rights.
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If in the future we issue securities at prices less than the warrant exercise price or note conversion price, the exercise price of the warrants and conversion price of the notes will be reduced to such lower amount. Certain of such warrants also include favored nations provisions which could be triggered in the future and could materially change the terms of the warrants. In the event any anti-dilution or favored nations provisions of the warrants or convertible note are triggered, it may cause the terms of such warrants or convertible note to be materially amended in favor of the holders thereof, cause significant dilution to existing shareholders, and otherwise have a material adverse effect on the Company.
Our outstanding convertible promissory notes include favored nations rights.
All of our outstanding convertible promissory notes include provisions which provide that, so long as such notes are outstanding, upon any issuance by the Company (or under certain notes, any of its subsidiaries) of any security, or amendment to a security that was originally issued, with any term that the holder of such note reasonably believes is more favorable to the holder of such security or with a term in favor of the holder of such security that the holder reasonably believes was not similarly provided to the holder in such note, then at the option of the holder, such term may become part of the holder’s notes. The types of terms contained in another security that may be more favorable to the holder of such security include, but are not limited to, terms addressing prepayment rate, interest rates, and original issue discounts. Such favored nations provisions could be triggered in the future and could materially change the terms of the notes. In the event any favored nations provisions of the notes are triggered, it may cause the terms of such notes to be materially amended in favor of the holders thereof, cause significant dilution to existing shareholders, and otherwise have a material adverse effect on the Company.
The issuance and sale of common stock upon exercise of warrants may cause substantial dilution to existing stockholders and may also depress the market price of our common stock.
As of the date of this Report, we had a total of 387,560 warrants outstanding, of which a) 120,834 warrants have an exercise price of $0.004 per share and mature on January 6, 2026, b) 44,502 warrants have an exercise price of $0.004 per share and mature on June 24, 2026, and c) 222,224 warrants mature between November 23, 2026 and December 2, 2026 and have an exercise price equal to either i) in the event of the Company’s listing on a national exchange by May 23, 2022, at a price equal to 120% of the offering price upon uplisting, or ii) $0.004 per share. The warrants contain provisions limiting each holder’s ability to exercise the warrants if such exercise would cause the holder’s (or any affiliate of any such holder) holdings in the Company to exceed 9.99% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock (4.99% in connection with the Warrants). The ownership limitation does not prevent such holder from exercising some of the warrants, selling those shares, and then exercising the rest of the warrants, while still staying below the 9.99% limit (4.99% in connection with the Warrants). In this way, the holders of the warrants could sell more than this limit while never actually holding more shares than this limit allows. If the holders of the warrants choose to do this, it will cause substantial dilution to the then holders of our common stock.
If exercises of the warrants and sales of such shares issuable upon exercise thereof take place, the price of our common stock may decline. In addition, the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants may represent overhang that may also adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Overhang occurs when there is a greater supply of a company’s stock in the market than there is demand for that stock. When this happens the price of the company’s stock will decrease, and any additional shares which shareholders attempt to sell in the market will only further decrease the share price. If the share volume of our common stock cannot absorb shares sold by the warrant holders, then the value of our common stock will likely decrease.
We currently owe a significant amount of money under our outstanding convertible notes.
As of the date of this Report, we owe approximately $ 1,794,745 under outstanding convertible and non-convertible promissory notes. We do not have sufficient funds to repay such notes and if we are unable to raise additional funds in the future to repay such amounts, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all, such failure could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations and cause any investment in the Company to decline in value or become worthless.
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We have established preferred stock which can be designated by the Company’s Board of Directors without shareholder approval and the board has established Series A Preferred Stock, which gives the holders majority voting power over the Company.
The Company has 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock authorized. The shares of preferred stock of the Company may be issued from time to time in one or more series, each of which shall have a distinctive designation or title as shall be determined by the board of directors of the Company prior to the issuance of any shares thereof. The preferred stock shall have such voting powers, full or limited, or no voting powers, and such preferences and relative, participating, optional or other special rights and such qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof as adopted by the board of directors. As discussed above under “The issuance of common stock upon conversion of our outstanding Series A Convertible Preferred Stock will cause immediate and substantial dilution to existing shareholders”, we have 1,000 shares of Series A Preferred Stock outstanding.
Because the board of directors is able to designate the powers and preferences of the preferred stock without the vote of a majority of the Company’s shareholders, shareholders of the Company will have no control over what designations and preferences the Company’s preferred stock will have. The issuance of shares of preferred stock or the rights associated therewith, could cause substantial dilution to our existing shareholders. Additionally, the dilutive effect of any preferred stock which we may issue may be exacerbated given the fact that such preferred stock may have voting rights and/or other rights or preferences which could provide the preferred shareholders with substantial voting control over us and/or give those holders the power to prevent or cause a change in control, even if that change in control might benefit our shareholders (similar to the Series A Preferred Stock). As a result, the issuance of shares of preferred stock may cause the value of our securities to decrease.
Stockholders may be diluted significantly through our efforts to obtain financing and satisfy obligations through the issuance of additional shares of our common stock.
We have no committed source of financing. Wherever possible, our board of directors will attempt to use non-cash consideration to satisfy obligations. In many instances, we believe that the non-cash consideration will consist of restricted shares of our common stock. Our board of directors has authority, without action or vote of the stockholders, to issue all or part of the authorized but unissued shares of common stock and designate series of preferred stock. In addition, if a trading market develops for our common stock, we may attempt to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock (or convertible securities), possibly at a discount to market. These actions will result in dilution of the ownership interests of existing stockholders, may further dilute common stock book value, and that dilution may be material. Such issuances may also serve to enhance existing management’s ability to maintain control of the Company because the shares may be issued to parties or entities committed to supporting existing management.
We are currently not in compliance with the continued quotation standards of the OTCQB market and there is no guarantee that we will be able to comply with the OTCQB market continued quotation standards in the future.
For our common stock to be quoted on the OTCQB market, we must, among other things, (a) file our periodic reports with the SEC; and (b) maintain a minimum bid price of $0.01 per share as of the close of the business day at least one time per 30 consecutive calendar days. We are not currently in compliance with these continued quotation standards as we did not timely file this Annual Report, have not timely filed our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, and do not currently comply with the minimum bid price requirement. The OTCQB market has provided us an extension until June 2, 2023, to file this Annual Report and until June 25, 2023, to cure our failure to comply with the bid price deficiency. We were not able to file the Annual Report within that time requirement and do not expect to be able to comply with the bid price deficiency by June 25, 2023. If our common stock is removed from the OTCQB market, our common stock will trade on the OTC Pink market and it may be difficult to sell your shares of common stock if you desire or need to sell them. Quotation of our common stock on the OTC Pink market may severely limit the market liquidity of our common stock and the ability of our shareholders to sell our common stock in the secondary market. If our common stock is delisted from the OTCQB market, an investor may find it more difficult to sell our securities or obtain accurate quotations as to the market value of our securities.
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We currently have a sporadic and volatile market for our common stock, and the market for our common stock may remain sporadic and volatile in the future.
We currently have a highly sporadic and volatile market for our common stock, which market is anticipated to remain volatile in the future. Factors that could affect our stock price or result in fluctuations in the market price or trading volume of our common stock include:
our actual or anticipated operating and financial performance and drilling locations, including reserves estimates;
quarterly variations in the rate of growth of our financial indicators, such as net income per share, net income and cash flows, or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us;
changes in revenue, cash flows or earnings estimates or publication of reports by equity research analysts;
speculation in the press or investment community;
public reaction to our press releases, announcements and filings with the SEC;
sales of our common stock by us or other stockholders, or the perception that such sales may occur;
the limited amount of our freely tradable common stock available in the public marketplace;
general financial market conditions and oil and natural gas industry market conditions, including fluctuations in commodity prices;
the realization of any of the risk factors presented in this Annual Report;
the recruitment or departure of key personnel;
commencement of, or involvement in, litigation;
the prices of oil and natural gas;
the success of our exploration and development operations, and the marketing of any oil and natural gas we produce;
changes in market valuations of companies similar to ours; and
domestic and international economic, health, legal and regulatory factors unrelated to our performance.
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Our stock price may be impacted by factors that are unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance. The stock markets in general have experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock. Additionally, general economic, political and market conditions, such as recessions, interest rates or international currency fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock. Due to the volume of our shares which trade, we believe that our stock prices (bid, ask and closing prices) may not be related to our actual value, and not reflect the actual value of our common stock. Stockholders and potential investors in our common stock should exercise caution before making an investment in us.
Additionally, as a result of the potential illiquidity and sporadic trading of our common stock, investors may not be interested in owning our common stock because of the inability to acquire or sell a substantial block of our common stock at one time. This may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. In addition, a stockholder may not be able to borrow funds using our common stock as collateral because lenders may be unwilling to accept the pledge of securities having such a limited market. We cannot assure you that an active trading market for our common stock will develop or, if one develops, be sustained.
Our common stock is currently subject to penny stock rules, which may make it more difficult for our stockholders to sell their common stock.
Broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in “ penny stocks ” are regulated by certain penny stock rules adopted by the SEC. Penny stocks generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00 per share. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a purchase or sale of a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver to the customer a standardized risk disclosure document that provides information about penny stocks and the risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. In addition, the penny stock rules generally require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock the broker-dealer make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for a stock that becomes subject to the penny stock rules.
Our Chief Executive Officer and director holds majority voting control over the Company.
Our Chief Executive Officer and director, Michael McLaren, beneficially owns 60% of our voting stock pursuant to his ownership of the 1,000 outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock, which gives him control over approximately 60% of our voting securities. For so long as any shares of the Series A Preferred Stock remain issued and outstanding, the holders thereof, voting separately as a class, shall have the right to vote on all shareholder matters (including, but not limited to at every meeting of the stockholders of the Company and upon any action taken by stockholders of the Company with or without a meeting) equal to the Remaining Percentage of the total vote (the “ Total Series A Vote ”). For example, if there are 195,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock issued and outstanding at the time of a shareholder vote, and the Remaining Percentage is 60%, the holders of the Series A Preferred Stock, voting separately as a class, will have the right to vote an aggregate of 292,500,000 shares, out of a total number of 487,500,000 shares voting. All Series A Shares shall vote together with the common stock on all shareholder matters as its own voting class. Additionally, so long as Series A Preferred Stock is outstanding, the Company shall not, without the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66-2/3% of all outstanding shares of Series A Preferred Stock, voting separately as a class (i) amend, alter or repeal any provision of the Articles of Incorporation or the Bylaws of the Company so as to adversely affect the designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights of the Series A Preferred Stock, (ii) effect any reclassification of the Series A Preferred Stock, (iii) designate any additional series of preferred stock, the designation of which adversely effects the rights, privileges, preferences or limitations of the Series A Preferred Stock; or (iv) amend, alter or repeal any provision of the Series A Designation (except in connection with certain non-material technical amendments).
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As a result, Mr. McLaren has the ability to influence matters affecting our stockholders and will therefore exercise control in determining the outcome of all corporate transactions or other matters, including the election of directors, mergers, consolidations, the sale of all or substantially all of our assets, and also the power to prevent or cause a change in control. Any investor who purchases shares will be a minority stockholder and as such will have little to no say in the direction of the Company and the election of directors. Additionally, it will be difficult if not impossible for investors to remove Mr. McLaren as a director, which will mean he will remain in control of who serves as officers of the Company as well as whether any changes are made in the board of directors. As a potential investor in the Company, you should keep in mind that even if you own shares of the Company’s common stock and wish to vote them at annual or special stockholder meetings, your shares will likely have little effect on the outcome of corporate decisions. Because Mr. McLaren controls such vote, investors may find it difficult to replace our management if they disagree with the way our business is being operated. Additionally, the interests of Mr. McLaren may differ from the interests of the other stockholders and thus result in corporate decisions that are averse to other stockholders.
We currently have limited operations and may not generate significant revenues or be profitable in the future.
Our current operations consist solely of oil and gas exploration. and oil and gas services We may not be successful in our planned operations in the future and can make no assurances that we will be able to generate significant revenues in the future, that we will have sufficient funding to support our operations and pay our expenses, or that we will ever become profitable. In the event we are unable to generate revenues and/or support our operations, we will be forced to curtail and/or abandon our current business plan and any investment in the Company could become worthless.
Risks Related to the Planned Reverse Stock Split
Effective on May 10, 2023, Marble Trital Inc., which entity is beneficially owned by Mr. Michael McLaren, our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, due to his ownership of 100% of Marble Trital Inc. and his position as Chief Executive Officer thereof, the holder of 1,000,000 shares of the Company’s Series A Preferred Stock, representing 292,500,000 voting shares as of such date or 60.0% of the 487,500,000 total voting shares as of such date (the “ Majority Shareholder ”), executed a written consent in lieu of a special meeting of shareholders (the “ Majority Shareholder Consent ”), approving the following matters, which had previously been approved by the Board of directors of the Company on April 19, 2023, and had recommended that such matters be presented to the Majority Shareholder for its approval on the same date:
the approval of the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Articles of Incorporation to affect a name change of the Company from “American International Holdings Corp.” to “Cycle Energy Corp.”;
the filing of a Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Articles of Incorporation to increase the Company’s authorized number of shares of Common Stock from 195 million shares to one billion 995 million shares; and
the grant of discretionary authority for our Board of Directors, without further shareholder approval, to effect a reverse stock split of all of the outstanding common stock of the Company, by the filing of an amendment to our Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of Nevada, in a ratio of between 1-for-10 and 1-for-1,000, with the Company’s Board of Directors having the discretion as to whether or not the reverse split is to be effected, and with the exact exchange ratio of any reverse split to be set at a whole number within the above range as determined by the Board of Directors in its sole discretion, at any time before April 19, 2024.
In accordance with Rule 14c-2 of the Exchange Act, the corporate actions will be effective no earlier than forty (40) days after the date notice of the internet availability of the Information Statement describing the above is first sent to shareholders, which we expect to be on or approximately June 24, 2023.
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Notwithstanding such approval, the reverse stock split is subject to approval of the final reverse ratio by the Board of Directors of the Company and approval thereof by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA), which approval has not been received yet, and may not be received on a timely basis, if all.
We anticipate effecting a reverse stock split of our outstanding common stock in the future.
We expect that the reverse stock split will increase the market price of our common stock; however, the effect of a reverse stock split upon the market price of our common stock cannot be predicted with certainty, and the results of reverse stock splits by companies in similar circumstances have been varied. It is possible that the market price of our common stock following the reverse stock split will not increase in the ratio of the split, or if it does, that such price will be not be sustained.
The reverse stock split may decrease the liquidity of the shares of our common stock.
The liquidity of the shares of our common stock may be affected adversely by the reverse stock split given the reduced number of shares that will be outstanding following the reverse stock split. In addition, the reverse stock split may increase the number of stockholders who own odd lots (less than 100 shares) of our common stock, creating the potential for such stockholders to experience an increase in the cost of selling their shares and greater difficulty affecting such sales.
The reverse stock split may not increase our stock price over the long-term.
The principal purpose of the reverse stock split is to increase the per-share market price of our common stock. It cannot be assured, however, that the reverse stock split will accomplish this objective for any meaningful period. While it is expected that the reduction in the number of outstanding shares of common stock will proportionally increase the market price of the Company’s common stock, it cannot be assured that the reverse stock split will increase the market price of our common stock by a multiple of the proposed reverse stock split ratio, or result in any permanent or sustained increase in the market price of our common stock, which is dependent upon many factors, including our business and financial performance, general market conditions, and prospects for future success.
General Risk Factors
We will continue to incur increased costs as a result of being a reporting company, and given our limited capital resources, such additional costs may have an adverse impact on our profitability.
We are an SEC reporting company. The rules and regulations under the Exchange Act require reporting companies to provide periodic reports with interactive data files, which require that we engage legal, accounting and auditing professionals, and eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) and EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) service providers. The engagement of such services can be costly, and we may continue to incur additional losses, which may adversely affect our ability to continue as a going concern. In addition, the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, as well as a variety of related rules implemented by the SEC, have required changes in corporate governance practices and generally increased the disclosure requirements of public companies. For example, as a result of being a reporting company, we are required to file periodic and current reports and other information with the SEC and we have adopted policies regarding disclosure controls and procedures and regularly evaluate those controls and procedures.
The additional costs we continue to incur in connection with becoming a reporting company (expected to be approximately a hundred thousand dollars per year) will continue to further stretch our limited capital resources. Due to our limited resources, we have to allocate resources away from other productive uses in order to continue to comply with our obligations as an SEC reporting company. Further, there is no guarantee that we will have sufficient resources to continue to meet our reporting and filing obligations with the SEC as they come due.
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Our acquisitions may expose us to unknown liabilities.
Because we have acquired, and expect generally to acquire, all (or a majority of) the outstanding securities of certain of our acquisition targets, our investment in those companies is or will be subject to all of their liabilities other than their respective debts which we paid or will pay at the time of the acquisitions. If there are unknown liabilities or other obligations, our business could be materially affected. We may also experience issues relating to internal controls over financial reporting that could affect our ability to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or that could affect our ability to comply with other applicable laws.
We may have difficulty obtaining future funding sources, if needed, and we may have to accept terms that would adversely affect stockholders.
We will need to raise funds from additional financings in the future to complete our business plan and may need to raise additional funding in the future to support our operations. We have no commitments for any financing and any financing commitments may result in dilution to our existing stockholders. We may have difficulty obtaining additional funding, and we may have to accept terms that would adversely affect our stockholders. For example, the terms of any future financings may impose restrictions on our right to declare dividends or on the manner in which we conduct our business. Additionally, we may raise funding by issuing additional convertible notes, which if converted into shares of our common stock would dilute our then stockholders’ interests. Lending institutions or private investors may impose restrictions on a future decision by us to make capital expenditures, acquisitions or significant asset sales. If we are unable to raise additional funds, we may be forced to curtail or even abandon our business plan.
If we make any acquisitions, they may disrupt or have a negative impact on our business.
If we make acquisitions in the future, funding permitting, which may not be available on favorable terms, if at all, we could have difficulty integrating the acquired company’s assets, personnel and operations with our own. We do not anticipate that any acquisitions or mergers we may enter into in the future would result in a change of control of the Company. In addition, the key personnel of the acquired business may not be willing to work for us. We cannot predict the effect expansion may have on our core business. Regardless of whether we are successful in making an acquisition, the negotiations could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees and increase our expenses. In addition to the risks described above, acquisitions are accompanied by a number of inherent risks, including, without limitation, the following:
the difficulty of integrating acquired products, services or operations;
the potential disruption of the ongoing businesses and distraction of our management and the management of acquired companies;
difficulties in maintaining uniform standards, controls, procedures and policies;
the potential impairment of relationships with employees and customers as a result of any integration of new management personnel;
the potential inability or failure to achieve additional sales and enhance our customer base through cross-marketing of the products to new and existing customers;
the effect of any government regulations which relate to the business acquired;
potential unknown liabilities associated with acquired businesses or product lines, or the need to spend significant amounts to retool, reposition or modify the marketing and sales of acquired products or operations, or the defense of any litigation, whether or not successful, resulting from actions of the acquired company prior to our acquisition; and
potential expenses under the labor, environmental and other laws of various jurisdictions.
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Our business could be severely impaired if and to the extent that we are unable to succeed in addressing any of these risks or other problems encountered in connection with an acquisition, many of which cannot be presently identified. These risks and problems could disrupt our ongoing business, distract our management and employees, increase our expenses and adversely affect our results of operations.
Current global financial conditions have been characterized by increased volatility which could negatively impact our business, prospects, liquidity and financial condition.
Current global financial conditions and recent market events have been characterized by increased volatility and the resulting tightening of the credit and capital markets has reduced the amount of available liquidity and overall economic activity. We cannot guarantee that debt or equity financing, the ability to borrow funds or cash generated by operations will be available or sufficient to meet or satisfy our initiatives, objectives or requirements. Our inability to access sufficient amounts of capital on terms acceptable to us for our operations will negatively impact our business, prospects, liquidity and financial condition.
Our ability to service our indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future.
Our ability to make payments on our indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future. Our ability to generate cash is subject to general economic and market conditions and financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash to fund our working capital requirements, capital expenditure, debt service and other liquidity needs, which could result in our inability to comply with financial and other covenants contained in our debt agreements, our being unable to repay or pay interest on our indebtedness, and our inability to fund our other liquidity needs. If we are unable to service our debt obligations, fund our other liquidity needs and maintain compliance with our financial and other covenants, we could be forced to curtail our operations, our creditors could accelerate our indebtedness and exercise other remedies and we could be required to pursue one or more alternative strategies, such as selling assets or refinancing or restructuring our indebtedness. However, such alternatives may not be feasible or adequate.
We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends.
We presently do not anticipate that we will pay any dividends on any of our capital stock in the foreseeable future. The payment of dividends, if any, would be contingent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements, and general financial condition. The payment of any dividends will be within the discretion of our board of directors. We presently intend to retain all earnings, if any, to implement our business plan; accordingly, we do not anticipate the declaration of any dividends in the foreseeable future.
The Company does not insure against all potential losses, which could result in significant financial exposure.
The Company does not have commercial insurance or third-party indemnities to fully cover all operational risks or potential liability in the event of a significant incident or series of incidents causing catastrophic loss. As a result, the Company is, to a substantial extent, self-insured for such events. The Company relies on existing liquidity, financial resources and borrowing capacity to meet short-term obligations that would arise from such an event or series of events. The occurrence of a significant incident, series of events, or unforeseen liability for which the Company is self-insured, not fully insured or for which insurance recovery is significantly delayed could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.
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Increasing attention to environmental, social, and governance (“ ESG ”) matters may impact our business.
Increasing attention to ESG matters, including those related to climate change and sustainability, increasing societal, investor and legislative pressure on companies to address ESG matters, may result in increased costs, reduced profits, increased investigations and litigation or threats thereof, negative impacts on our stock price and access to capital markets, and damage to our reputation. Increasing attention to climate change, for example, may result in demand shifts for hydrocarbon and additional governmental investigations and private litigation, or threats thereof, against the Company. In addition, organizations that provide information to investors on corporate governance and related matters have developed ratings processes for evaluating companies on their approach to ESG matters, including climate change and climate-related risks. Such ratings are used by some investors to inform their investment and voting decisions. Also, some stakeholders, including but not limited to sovereign wealth, pension, and endowment funds, have been divesting and promoting divestment of or screening out of fossil fuel equities and urging lenders to limit funding to companies engaged in the extraction of fossil fuel reserves. Unfavorable ESG ratings and investment community divestment initiatives, among other actions, may lead to negative investor sentiment toward the Company and to the diversion of investment to other industries, which could have a negative impact on our stock price and our access to and costs of capital. Additionally, evolving expectations on various ESG matters, including biodiversity, waste and water, may increase costs, require changes in how we operate and lead to negative stakeholder sentiment.
Global economic conditions could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth.
Adverse macroeconomic conditions, including inflation, slower growth or recession, new or increased tariffs, changes to fiscal and monetary policy, tighter credit, higher interest rates, high unemployment and currency fluctuations could materially adversely affect our operations, expenses, access to capital and the market for oil and gas. In addition, uncertainty about, or a decline in, global or regional economic conditions could have a significant impact on our expected funding sources, suppliers and partners. A downturn in the economic environment could also lead to limitations on our ability to issue new debt; reduced liquidity; and declines in the fair value of our financial instruments. These and other economic factors could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and growth.
We may be adversely affected by climate change or by legal, regulatory or market responses to such change.
The long-term effects of climate change are difficult to predict; however, such effects may be widespread. Impacts from climate change may include physical risks (such as rising sea levels or frequency and severity of extreme weather conditions), social and human effects (such as population dislocations or harm to health and well-being), compliance costs and transition risks (such as regulatory or technology changes) and other adverse effects. The effects of climate change could increase the cost of certain products, commodities and energy (including utilities), which in turn may impact our ability to procure goods or services required for the operation of our business. Climate change could also lead to increased costs as a result of physical damage to or destruction of our facilities, equipment and business interruption due to weather events that may be attributable to climate change. These events and impacts could materially adversely affect our business operations, financial position or results of operation.
We might be adversely impacted by changes in accounting standards.
Our consolidated financial statements are subject to the application of U.S. GAAP, which periodically is revised or reinterpreted. From time to time, we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards issued by recognized authoritative bodies, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“ FASB ”) and the SEC. It is possible that future accounting standards may require changes to the accounting treatment in our consolidated financial statements and may require us to make significant changes to our financial systems. Such changes might have a materially adverse impact on our financial position or results of operations.
General Risks
Our sector and the broader U.S. economy experienced higher than expected inflationary pressures in 2022 related to continued supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and geopolitical instability. Should these conditions persist, it may impact our ability to procure materials and equipment on a cost-effective basis, or at all, and, as a result, our business, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Throughout 2022, we experienced significant increases in the costs of certain materials, including steel, sand and fuel, as a result of availability constraints, supply chain disruption, increased demand, labor shortages associated with a fully employed US labor force, inflation and other factors. Though we incorporated inflationary factors into our 2022 business plan, inflation outpaced those original assumptions and, while we have incorporated inflationary factors into our 2023 business plan, inflation may outpace those assumptions. These challenges are due in large measure to increased demand for oil and gas production driven by the continued economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and more broadly, systemic underinvestment in global oil and gas development. These supply and demand fundamentals have been further aggravated by disruptions in global energy supply caused by multiple geopolitical events, including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We continue to undertake actions and implement plans to strengthen our supply chain to address these pressures and protect the requisite access to commodities and services. Nevertheless, we expect for the foreseeable future to experience supply chain constraints and may continue to experience inflationary pressure on our cost structure. These supply chain constraints and inflationary pressures may continue to adversely impact our cost of operations and if we are unable to manage our global supply chain, it may impact our ability to procure materials and equipment in a timely and cost-effective manner, if at all, which could result in reduced margins and production delays and, as a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
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We are subject to income- and non-income-based taxes in the United States under federal, state, and local jurisdictions and in the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. Tax laws, regulations and administrative practices in various jurisdictions may be subject to significant change, with or without advance notice, due to economic, political and other conditions, and significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision and accruals for these taxes. Our tax liabilities could be affected by numerous factors, such as changes in tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, administrative practices, principles and interpretations, the mix and level of earnings in a given taxing jurisdiction or our ownership or capital structure. For example, on August 16, 2022, the United States enacted the IRA, which is highly complex, subject to interpretation, and contains significant changes to U.S. tax law including, but not limited to, a 15% corporate book minimum tax and a 1% excise tax on stock repurchases. The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS are expected to release further regulations and interpretive guidance implementing the legislation contained in the IRA, but the details and timing of such regulations are subject to uncertainty at this time. The tax provisions of the IRA which may apply to us are generally effective in 2023 or later and therefore tax impacts to us in 2022 were immaterial. However, it is possible that the enactment of changes in the U.S. corporate tax system, including in connection with the IRA, could have a material effect on our consolidated cash taxes in the future.
Outbreaks of communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Global or national health concerns, including a widespread outbreak of contagious disease, can, among other impacts, negatively impact the global economy, reduce demand and pricing for crude oil, NGLs and natural gas, lead to operational disruptions and limit our ability to execute on our business plan, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, uncertainty regarding the impact of any outbreak of contagious disease could lead to increased volatility in crude oil, NGLs and natural gas prices.
For example, the novel coronavirus global pandemic, known as COVID-19, had a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations in 2020. The early effects of COVID-19 included a substantial decline in demand for crude oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas and other petroleum hydrocarbons, along with a corresponding deterioration in prices. While demand for crude oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas and other petroleum hydrocarbons significantly recovered as the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, we are unable to predict the future impact of COVID-19 (including the emergence, contagiousness and threat of new and different strains), or a widespread outbreak of another contagious disease, on overall economic activity and the demand for, and pricing of, our products. COVID-19, or a widespread outbreak of another contagious disease, could have a negative impact on our operations; impact the ability of our counterparties to perform their obligations; result in voluntary and involuntary curtailments, delays or cancellations of certain drilling activities; impair the quantity or value of our reserves; result in transportation and storage capacity constraints; cause shortages of key personnel, including employees, contractors and subcontractors; interrupt global supply chains; increase impairments and associated charges to our earnings; impact our cash on hand, uses of cash and cause a decrease to our financial flexibility and liquidity. In addition, the risks associated with COVID-19 impacted, and COVID-19, or a widespread outbreak of another contagious disease, may in the future impact our workforce and the way we meet our business objectives, and such impact may be material. The extent to which the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business and our financial results will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.
Our business could be negatively impacted by cyberattacks targeting our computer and telecommunications systems and infrastructure or targeting those of our third-party service providers.
Our business, like other companies in the oil and gas industry, has become increasingly dependent on digital technologies, including technologies that are managed by third-party service providers or other providers of goods or services to our industry on whom we directly or indirectly rely on to help us collect, host or process information. Such technologies are integrated into our business operations and used as a part of our production and distribution systems in the U.S. and abroad, including those systems used to transport production to market, to enable communications and to provide a host of other support services for our business. Accordingly, our use of the internet and other public networks for communications, services and storage, including “cloud” computing, exposes us and our users to cybersecurity risks.
Changes in U.S. and international tax rules and regulations, or interpretations thereof, may materially and adversely affect our cash flows, results of operations and financial condition.
There is no guarantee that our security measures will provide absolute security. We may not be able to anticipate, detect or prevent cyberattacks, particularly because the methodologies used by attackers change frequently or may not be recognized until launched, and because attackers are increasingly using techniques designed to circumvent controls and avoid detection. We and our third-party service providers may therefore be vulnerable to security events that are beyond our control, and we may be the target of cyber-attacks, as well as physical attacks, which could result in the unauthorized access to our information systems or data, the data of our customers and our employees or significant disruption to our business. These attacks could adversely impact our business operations, our revenue and profits, our ability to comply with legal, contractual and regulatory requirements, our reputation and goodwill, as well as result in legal risk, enforcement actions and litigation. Our information systems and related infrastructure have experienced attempted and actual instances of unauthorized access in the past, but we have not suffered any losses or breaches which had a material effect on our business, operations or reputation relating to such attacks; however, there is no assurance that we will not suffer such losses or breaches in the future.
As cyberattacks continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to respond to cyberattacks, to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures, or to investigate and remediate any information systems and related infrastructure security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the continuing and evolving threat of cybersecurity attacks has resulted in evolving legal and compliance matters, including increased regulatory focus on prevention, which could require us to expend significant additional resources to meet such requirements. We may also be subject to regulatory investigations or litigation relating from cybersecurity issues.
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Our business may be materially adversely affected by negative publicity.
From time to time, political and public sentiment with respect to, or impacts by, the oil and gas industry may result in adverse press coverage and other adverse public statements affecting our business. Additionally, though we believe we can achieve our voluntary company targets and goals, any failure to realize or perception of failure to realize voluntary targets or long-term goals, including GHG emissions targets and other environmental objectives, could lead to adverse press coverage and other adverse public statements affecting the Company. Adverse press coverage and other adverse statements, whether or not driven by political or public sentiment, may also result in investigations by regulators, legislators and law enforcement officials or in legal claims.
Our operations are subject to business interruptions and casualty losses. We do not insure against all potential losses and therefore we could be seriously harmed by unexpected liabilities and increased costs.
Our United States and International operations are subject to unplanned occurrences, including blowouts, explosions, fires, loss of well control, spills, tornadoes, hurricanes and other adverse weather, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or nuclear or other disasters, labor disputes and accidents. These same risks can be applied to the third parties that transport our products from our facilities. A prolonged disruption in the ability of any pipelines, rail cars, trucks or vessels to transport our production could contribute to a business interruption or increase costs.
Our operations are also subject to the additional hazards of pollution, releases of toxic gas and other environmental hazards and risks. These hazards could result in serious personal injury or loss of human life, significant damage to property and equipment, environmental pollution, impairment of operations and substantial losses to us. Various hazards have adversely affected us in the past, and damages resulting from a catastrophic occurrence in the future involving us or any of our assets or operations may result in our being named as a defendant in one or more lawsuits asserting potentially large claims or in our being assessed potentially substantial fines by governmental authorities. We maintain insurance against many, but not all, potential losses or liabilities arising from operating hazards in amounts that we believe to be prudent. Uninsured losses and liabilities arising from operating hazards could reduce the funds available to us for capital, exploration and investment spending and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Historically, we have maintained insurance coverage for physical damage including at times resulting business interruption to our major onshore and offshore facilities, with significant self-insured retentions. In the future, we may not be able to maintain or obtain insurance of the type and amount we desire at reasonable rates. As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for our insurance policies will change over time and could escalate. In some instances, certain insurance could become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage.
Litigation by private plaintiffs or government officials or entities could adversely affect our performance.
We currently are defending litigation and anticipate that we will be required to defend new litigation in the future. The subject matter of such litigation may include releases of hazardous substances from our facilities, privacy laws, contract disputes, title disputes, royalty disputes or any other laws or regulations that apply to our operations. In some cases, the plaintiff or plaintiffs seek alleged damages involving large classes of potential litigants and may allege damages relating to extended periods of time or other alleged facts and circumstances. If we are not able to successfully defend such claims, they may result in substantial liability. We do not have insurance covering all of these potential liabilities. In addition to substantial liability, litigation may also seek injunctive relief which could have an adverse effect on our future operations.
For all of the foregoing reasons and others set forth herein, an investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk.
