MEXCO ENERGY CORP 10-Q

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Unless the context otherwise requires, references to the “Company”, “Mexco”, “we”, “us” or “our” mean Mexco Energy Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our plans, beliefs or current expectations and may be signified by the words “could”, “should”, “expect”, “project”, “estimate”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “budget”, “plan”, “forecast”, “predict” and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements appear throughout this Form 10-Q with respect to, among other things: profitability; planned capital expenditures; estimates of oil and gas production; future project dates; estimates of future oil and gas prices; estimates of oil and gas reserves; our future financial condition or results of operations; and our business strategy and other plans and objectives for future operations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. While we have made assumptions that we believe are reasonable, the assumptions that support our forward-looking statements are based upon information that is currently available and is subject to change. All forward-looking statements in the Form 10-Q are qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement contained in this section. We do not undertake to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking information. It is suggested that these financial statements be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Form 10-K. Liquidity and Capital Resources. Historically, we have funded our operations, acquisitions, exploration and development expenditures from cash generated by operating activities, bank borrowings, sales of non-core properties and issuance of common stock. Our primary financial resource is our base of oil and gas reserves. We have pledged our producing oil and gas properties to secure our credit facility. We do not have any delivery commitments to provide a fixed and determinable quantity of our oil and gas under any existing contract or agreement. Our long-term strategy is on increasing profit margins while concentrating on obtaining reserves with low-cost operations by acquiring and developing oil and gas properties with potential for long-lived production. We focus our efforts on the acquisition of royalty and working interests and non-operated properties in areas with significant development potential. At June 30, 2023, we had working capital of $4,090,753 compared to working capital of $3,475,776 at March 31, 2023, an increase of $614,977 for the reasons set forth below. Page 12 Cash Flows Changes in the net funds provided by or (used in) each of our operating, investing and financing activities are set forth in the table below: For the Three Months Ended June 30, 2023 2022 Change Net cash provided by operating activities $ 1,616,195 $ 1,495,598 $ 120,597 Net cash used in investing activities $ (264,091 ) $ (2,329,363 ) $ (2,065,272 ) Net cash used in financing activities $ (211,388 ) $ - $ 211,388 Cash Flow Provided by Operating Activities. Cash flow from operating activities is primarily derived from the production of our crude oil and natural gas reserves and changes in the balances of non-cash accounts, receivables, payables or other non-energy property asset account balances. Cash flow provided by our operating activities for the three months ended June 30, 2023 was $1,616,195 in comparison to $1,495,598 for the three months ended June 30, 2022. This increase of $120,597 in our cash flow operating activities consisted of an increase in our non-cash expenses of $126,249; a decrease in our accounts receivable of $692,094; an increase of $44,475 in our accounts payable and accrued expenses; an increase of $88,683 in deferred income tax expense; and, a decrease in our net income for the current quarter of $833,058. Variations in cash flow from operating activities may impact our level of exploration and development expenditures. Our expenditures in operating activities consist primarily of drilling expenses, production expenses and engineering services. Our expenses also consist of employee compensation, accounting, insurance and other general and administrative expenses that we have incurred in order to address normal and necessary business activities of a public company in the crude oil and natural gas production industry. Cash Flow Used in Investing Activities. Cash flow from investing activities is derived from changes in oil and gas property balances. For the three months ended June 30, 2023, we had net cash of $264,091 used for additions to oil and gas properties compared to $2,329,363 for the three months ended June 30, 2022. Cash Flow Provided by Financing Activities. Cash flow from financing activities is derived from our changes in long-term debt and in equity account balances. Cash flow used in our financing activities was $211,388 for the three months ended June 30, 2023 compared to cash flow provided by our financing activities of $0 for the three months ended June 30, 2022. During the three months ended June 30, 2023, we expended $213,600 to pay the special dividend. Accordingly, net cash increased $1,140,716, leaving cash and cash equivalents on hand of $3,376,487 as of June 30, 2023. Oil and Natural Gas Property Development New Participations in Fiscal 2024. The Company currently plans to participate in the drilling and completion of 40 horizontal wells at an estimated aggregate cost of approximately $1,700,000 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. All of these horizontal wells are in the Delaware Basin located in the western portion of the Permian Basin in Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico. In May 2023, Mexco expended approximately $133,000 to participate in the drilling of four horizontal wells in the Wolfcamp Sand formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico. Mexco’s working interest in these wells is .52%. In May 2023, Mexco expended approximately $68,000 to participate in the drilling of two horizontal wells in the Penn Shale formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico. Mexco’s working interest in these wells is .4%. In April 2023, Mexco expended approximately $60,000 to participate in the drilling of two horizontal wells in the Penn Shale formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico. Mexco’s working interest in these wells is approximately .285%. Subsequently, in July 2023, the Company expended approximately $45,000 to complete these wells. Page 13 Completion of Wells Drilled in Fiscal 2023. The Company also expects to expend approximately $450,000 in the completion of 21 horizontal wells in which the Company participated in fiscal 2023 of which approximately $225,000 has been expended to date. The Company expended approximately $211,000 for the completion costs of four horizontal wells in the Wolfcamp Sand formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico that the Company participated in drilling during fiscal 2023. Mexco’s working interest in these wells is .52%. Three horizontal wells in the Bone Spring formation of the Delaware Basin in Eddy County, New Mexico in which the Company participated during fiscal 2023 were completed in May 2023 with initial average production rates of 437 barrels of oil, 983 barrels of water and 603,000 cubic feet of gas per day, or, 538 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Mexco’s working interest in these wells is .05%. Acquisitions. In June 2023, the Company acquired small royalty (mineral) interests in 6 wells operated by Highpeak Energy and located in Howard County, Texas for a purchase price of $20,000 which is effective July 1, 2023. Sales of Properties. During the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the Company received approximately $280,000 in cash from a sale of joint venture leasehold acreage and marginal producing working interest wells in Reagan County, Texas, marginal producing working interest wells in Pecos County, Texas and interest in surface acreage in Palo Pinto County, Texas. Subsequent Participations. In July 2023, Mexco expended approximately $787,000 to participate in the drilling of five horizontal wells in the Bone Spring Sand formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico. In July 2023, Mexco expended approximately $36,000 to participate in the drilling and completion of two horizontal wells in the Bone Spring Sand formation of the Delaware Basin in Lea County, New Mexico. We are participating in other projects and are reviewing projects in which we may participate. The cost of such projects would be funded, to the extent possible, from existing cash balances and cash flow from operations. The remainder may be funded through borrowings on the credit facility and, if appropriate, sales of non-core properties. Crude oil and natural gas prices generally remained volatile during the last year. The volatility of the energy markets makes it extremely difficult to predict future oil and natural gas price movements with any certainty. For example, in the last twelve months, the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) posted price for crude oil has ranged from a low of $62.72 per bbl in March 2023 to a high of $104.41 per bbl in July 2022. The Henry Hub Spot Market Price (“Henry Hub”) for natural gas has ranged from a low of $1.74 per MMBtu in June 2023 to a high of $9.85 per MMBtu in August 2022. On June 30, 2023, the WTI posted price for crude oil was $66.62 and the Henry Hub spot price for natural gas was $2.48 per MMBtu. See Results of Operations below for realized prices. Contractual Obligations. We have no off-balance sheet debt or unrecorded obligations and have not guaranteed the debt of any other party. The following table summarizes our future payments we are obligated to make based on agreements in place as of June 30, 2023: Payments due in: Total less than 1 year 1 - 3 years over 3 years Contractual obligations: Leases (1) $ 63,093 $ 58,240 $ 4,853 $ - (1) The lease amount represents the monthly rent amount for our principal office space in Midland, Texas under a 38 month lease agreement effective May 15, 2018 and extended another 36 months to July 31, 2024. Of this total obligation for the remainder of the lease, our majority shareholder will pay $15,572 less than 1 year and $1,298 1-3 years for his portion of the shared office space. Results of Operations – Three Months Ended June 30, 2023 Compared to Three Months Ended June 30, 2022. For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, net income was $465,614 compared to net income of $1,298,672 for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. This was primarily the result of a decrease in operating revenues due to a decrease in oil and gas prices and an increase in operating expenses, partially offset by an increase in oil and gas production volumes, which is further explained below. Page 14 Oil and gas sales. Revenue from oil and gas sales was $1,715,090 for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, a 29% decrease from $2,416,113 for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. This primarily resulted from a decrease in oil and gas prices partially offset by an increase in oil and gas production volumes. The following table sets forth our oil and natural gas revenues, production quantities and average prices received during the three months ended June 30: 2023 2022 % Difference Oil: Revenue $ 1,429,678 $ 1,559,321 (8.3 )% Volume (bbls) 19,528 14,224 37.3 % Average Price (per bbl) $ 73.21 $ 109.62 (33.2 )% Gas: Revenue $ 285,412 $ 856,792 (66.7 )% Volume (mcf) 141,578 129,706 9.2 % Average Price (per mcf) $ 2.02 $ 6.61 (69.4 )% Production and exploration. Production costs were $349,407 for the three months ended June 30, 2023, a 20% decrease from $435,028 for the three months ended June 30, 2022. This decrease is primarily the result of a decrease in production taxes and lease operating expenses as a result of the decrease in oil and gas revenues. Depreciation, depletion and amortization. Depreciation, depletion and amortization (“DD&A”) expense was $486,186 for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, a 26% increase from $387,128 for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, primarily due to an increase in oil and gas production and a decrease in the oil and gas reserves, partially offset by a decrease in the full cost pool amortization base. General and administrative expenses. General and administrative expenses were $340,969 for the three months ended June 30, 2023, a 17% increase from $290,243 for the three months ended June 30, 2022. This was primarily due to an increase in employee stock option compensation and engineering services. Interest expense. Interest expense, which consisted of debt issuance costs, was $1,081 for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, a decrease of 65% from $3,131 for the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Income taxes. Federal income tax for the three months ended June 30, 2023 was $88,683. There was no federal income tax expense for the three months ended June 30, 2022 because the Company was in a net deferred tax asset position. State income tax was $32,818 for the three months ended June 30, 2023, a 16% increase from $28,287 for the three months ended June 30, 2022 due to the increase in oil and natural gas sales in the State of New Mexico. The effective tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 was 21% and 2%, respectively.