Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Commodity Price Risk
Our major market risk exposure is the pricing of oil, natural gas, and NGLs produced by our operators. Realized prices are primarily driven by the prevailing global prices for oil and prices for natural gas and NGLs in the United States. Prices for oil, natural gas, and NGLs have been volatile for several years, and we expect this unpredictability to continue in the future. The prices that our operators receive for production depend on many factors outside of our or their control. To reduce the impact of fluctuations in oil and natural gas prices on our revenues, we use commodity derivative financial instruments to reduce our exposure to price volatility of oil and natural gas. The counterparties to the contracts are unrelated third parties. The contracts settle monthly in cash based on the difference between the fixed contract price and the market settlement price. The market settlement price is based on the NYMEX benchmark for oil and natural gas. We have not designated any of our contracts as fair value or cash flow hedges. Accordingly, the changes in fair value of the contracts are included in net income in the period of the change. See Note 5 – Commodity Derivative Financial Instruments and Note 6 – Fair Value Measurements to the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report for additional information.
Commodity prices have been historically volatile based upon the dynamics of supply and demand. To estimate the effect lower prices would have on our reserves, we applied a 10% discount to the SEC commodity pricing for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022. Applying this discount results in an approximate 0.7% reduction of proved reserve volumes as compared to the undiscounted December 31, 2022 SEC pricing scenario.
Counterparty and Customer Credit Risk
Our derivative contracts expose us to credit risk in the event of nonperformance by counterparties. While we do not require our counterparties to our derivative contracts to post collateral, we do evaluate the credit standing of such counterparties as we deem appropriate. This evaluation includes reviewing a counterparty’s credit rating and latest financial information. As of December 31, 2022, we had seven counterparties, all of which are rated Baa1 or better by Moody’s and are lenders under our Credit Facility.
Our principal exposure to credit risk results from receivables generated by the production activities of our operators. The inability or failure of our significant operators to meet their obligations to us or their insolvency or liquidation may adversely affect our financial results. However, we believe the credit risk associated with our operators and customers is acceptable.
Interest Rate Risk
We have exposure to changes in interest rates on our indebtedness. As of December 31, 2022, we had $10.0 million of outstanding borrowings under our Credit Facility, bearing interest at a weighted-average interest rate of 6.92%. The impact of a 1% increase in the interest rate on this amount of debt would have resulted in an increase in interest expense, and a corresponding decrease in our results of operations, of $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, assuming that our indebtedness remained constant throughout the period. We may use certain derivative instruments to hedge our exposure to variable interest rates in the future, but we do not currently have any interest rate hedges in place.
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
The information required here is included in this Annual Report beginning on page F-1.
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.