UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-Q

 

(Mark One)

 

[X]Quarterly report pursuant to section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
  
For the Quarterly Period Ended September 30, 20192020
 or
[  ]Transition report pursuant to section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
  
 For the transition period from           to

 

Commission File Number 000-06814

 

 

 

U.S. ENERGY CORP.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

U.S. ENERGY CORP.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

 

Wyoming 83-0205516
(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification No.)

 

675 Bering Dr, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77057
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (303) 993-3200

950 S. Cherry St., Suite 1515, Denver CO 80246

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class Trading symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, par value $0.01 USEG NASDAQ Capital Market

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES [X] NO [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). YES [X] NO [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer [  ]Accelerated filer [  ]
Non-accelerated filer [  ][X] Smaller reporting company [X]
Emerging growth company [  ]

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

YES [  ] NO [X]

 

The registrant had 13,405,8382,915,654 shares of its common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding as of November 12, 2019.16, 2020.

 

 

 

 
 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

  Page
Part I.FINANCIAL INFORMATION 
   
Item 1.Financial Statements 
 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (unaudited)3
 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited)4
 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’Shareholders’ Equity (unaudited)5
 Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited)6
 Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements7
Item 2.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and ResultResults of Operations25
Item 3.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk3538
Item 4.Controls and Procedures3538
   
Part II.OTHER INFORMATION 
   
Item 1.Legal Proceedings3739
Item 1A.Risk Factors3739
Item 2.Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds3745
Item 3.Defaults Upon Senior Securities3745
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures3745
Item 5.Other Information3745
Item 6.Exhibits3845
   
Signatures4046

Part I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

Item 1. Financial Statements

 

U.S. ENERGY CORP. AND SUBSIDIARYSUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

 

 September 30, 2019  

December 31, 2018

  September 30, 2020  December 31, 2019 
  (unaudited)          
ASSETS                
Current assets:                
Cash and equivalents $1,385  $2,340  $1,039  $1,532 
Oil and natural gas sales receivable  1,113   697   199   716 
Related party receivable  -   2 
Marketable equity securities  302   536   109   307 
Refundable deposit, net  50   - 
Other current assets  153   113 
Prepaid and other current assets  355   138 
Real estate assets held for sale, net of selling costs  725   - 
                
Total current assets  3,003   3,688   2,427   2,693 
                
Oil and natural gas properties under full cost method:                
Unevaluated properties  3,757   3,728   1,694   3,741 
Evaluated properties  89,267   88,764   92,615   89,113 
Less accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization  (84,262)  (83,729)
Less accumulated depreciation, depletion, amortization and impairment  (87,611)  (84,400)
                
Net oil and natural gas properties  8,762   8,763   6,698   8,454 
                
Other assets:                
Property and equipment, net  2,149   2,249   275   2,115 
Right-of-use asset  191   -   141   179 
Other assets  52   78   65   26 
                
Total other assets  2,392   2,327   481   2,320 
                
Total assets $14,157  $14,778  $9,606  $13,467 
                
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY        
LIABILITIES, PREFERRED STOCK AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY        
Current liabilities:                
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $1,222  $670  $888  $974 
Insurance premium finance note payable  35   - 
Accrued compensation and benefits  28   63   257   191 
Current portion of credit facility  -   937 
Other current liabilities  56   - 
Related party secured note payable  375   - 
Insurance premium note payable  42   - 
Current lease obligation  63   58 
                
Total current liabilities  1,341   1,670   1,625   1,223 
                
Noncurrent liabilities:                
Asset retirement obligations  944   939   1,229   819 
Warrant liability  206   425   137   73 
Other liabilities  158   25 
Long-term lease obligation, net of current portion  95   142 
Other long-term liabilities  6   - 
Total noncurrent liabilities  1,308   1,389   1,467   1,034 
                
Commitments and contingencies (Note 8)        
Preferred stock: Authorized 100,000 shares, 50,000 shares of Series A Convertible (par value $0.01) issued and outstanding; liquidation preference of $3,130 and $2,856 as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively  2,000   2,000 
Total liabilities  3,092   2,257 
Commitments and contingencies (Note 9)        
Preferred stock: Authorized 100,000 shares, 50,000 shares of Series A Convertible (par value $0.01) issued and outstanding; liquidation preference of $3,538 and $3,228 as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively  2,000   2,000 
Shareholders’ equity:                
Common stock, $0.01 par value; unlimited shares authorized; 13,405,838 shares issued and outstanding  134   134 
Common stock, $0.01 par value; unlimited shares authorized; 1,449,754 and 1,340,583 shares issued and outstanding at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively  15   13 
Additional paid-in capital  136,749   136,714   137,848   136,876 
Accumulated deficit  (127,375)  (127,129)  (133,349)  (127,679)
                
Total shareholders’ equity  9,508   9,719   4,514   9,210 
                
Total liabilities, preferred stock and shareholders’ equity $14,157  $14,778  $9,606  $13,467 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

U.S. ENERGY CORP. AND SUBSIDIARYSUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

 

(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)

 

  Three Months Ended  Nine Months Ended 
  September 30:  September 30: 
  2019  2018  2019  2018 
             
Revenue:                
Oil $1,571  $1,120  $4,746  $3,642 
Natural gas and liquids  62   102   320   708 
                 
Total revenue  1,633   1,222   5,066   4,350 
                 
Operating expenses:                
Oil and gas operations:                
Lease operating expenses  410   357   1,348   1,431 
Production taxes  107   96   323   316 
Depreciation, depletion, amortization and accretion  180   81   550   365 
General and administrative:                
Compensation and benefits, including directors  166   222   620   1,548 
Stock-based compensation  9   13   35   623 
Professional fees, insurance and other  814   386   2,434   1,183 
Bad debt expense  -   -   28   - 
                 
Total operating expenses  1,686   1,155   5,338   5,466 
                 
Operating (loss) income  (53)  67   (272)  (1,116)
                 
Other income (expense):                
Losses on commodity derivative contracts  -   (14)  -   (225)
Change in fair value of marketable equity securities  (240)  203   (235)  80 
Warrant revaluation (loss) gain  (23)  288   219   478 
Rental property loss  (16)  (58)  (39)  (94)
Recovery of deposit written off  50   -   100   - 
Interest, net  1   (19)  (19)  (73)
                 
Total other (expense) income  (228)  400   26   166 
                 
Net (loss) income $(281) $467  $(246) $(950)
                 
Net income (loss) $(281) $467  $(246) $(950)
Accrued preferred stock dividends  (95)  (84)  (273)  (242)
Net (loss) income applicable to common shareholders $(376) $383  $(519) $(1,192)
Basic and diluted weighted shares outstanding  13,405,838   13,234,709   13,405,838   12,697,206 
Diluted weighted shares outstanding  13,405,838   13,255,109   13,405,838   12,697,206 
Basic (loss) earnings per share $(0.03) $0.03  $(0.04) $(0.09)
Diluted (loss) earnings per share $(0.03) $0.03  $(0.04) $(0.09)
  Three Months Ended  Nine Months Ended 
  September 30,  September 30, 
  2020  2019  2020  2019 
             
Revenue:                
Oil $362  $1,571  $1,418  $4,746 
Natural gas and liquids  39   62   95   320 
                 
Total revenue  401   1,633   1,513   5,066 
                 
Operating expenses:                
Oil and gas operations:                
Lease operating expenses  290   410   1,032   1,348 
Production taxes  30   107   110   323 
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization  81   180   291   550 
Impairment of oil and natural gas properties  1,149   -   2,943   - 
General and administrative expenses  607   989   1,546   3,117 
                 
Total operating expenses  2,157   1,686   5,922   5,338 
                 
Operating loss  (1,756)  (53)  (4,409)  (272)
                 
Other income (expense):                
Loss on real estate held for sale  -   -   (651)  - 
Impairment of real estate  -   -   (403)  - 
(Loss) gain on marketable equity securities  (32)  (240)  (153)  (235)
Warrant revaluation gain (loss)  55   (23)  (65)  219 
Rental property loss, net  (5)  (16)  (40)  (39)
Other income  26   50   54   100 
Interest, net  (1)  1   (3)  (19)
                 
Total other income (expense)  43   (228)  (1,261)  26 
                 
Net loss $(1,713) $(281) $(5,670) $(246)
Accrued preferred stock dividends  (107)  (95)  (310)  (273)
Net loss applicable to common shareholders $(1,820) $(376) $(5,980) $(519)
Basic and diluted weighted shares outstanding  1,399,754   1,340,583   1,386,515   1,340,583 
Basic and diluted loss per share $(1.30) $(0.28) $(4.31) $(0.39)

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

U.S. ENERGY CORP. AND SUBSIDIARYSUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES

IN SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

FOR THE NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 20192020 AND 20182019

(in thousands, except share amounts)

 

     Additional       
  Common Stock  Paid-in  Accumulated    
  Shares  Amount  Capital  Deficit  Total 
                
December 31, 2017 (restated)(1)  11,802,768  $118  $134,632  $(126,088) $8,662 
Issuance of shares in at-the-market transactions, net of fees  1,288,537   13   1,653   -   1,666 
Issuance of shares to employees, net of shares withheld for taxes  314,533   3   376   -   379 
Amortization of stock option awards  -   -   40   -   40 
Net loss  -   -   -   (950)  (950)
                     
September 30, 2018  13,405,838  $134  $136,701  $(127,038) $9,797 
                     
December 31, 2018  13,405,838  $134  $136,714  $(127,129) $9,719 
Amortization of stock option awards  -   -   35   -   35 
Net loss  -   -   -   (246)  (246)
                     
September 30, 2019  13,405,838  $134  $136,749  $(127,375) $9,508 

(1)Shareholders’ equity at December 31, 2017 has been restated to reflect the reclassification of the Company’s Series A Preferred Stock to temporary equity. In addition, $903 thousand at December 31, 2017 related to the change in the fair value of marketable equity securities was reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive loss to accumulated deficit as a result of the adoption of Accounting Standards Update 2016-01.
     Additional       
  Common Stock  Paid-in  Accumulated    
  Shares  Amount  Capital  Deficit  Total 
                
Balances, December 31, 2019  1,340,583  $13  $136,876  $(127,679) $9,210 
Settlement of fractional shares in cash  (327)  -   (1)  -   (1)
Shares issued in acquisition of New Horizon Resources  59,498   1   239   -   240 
Share-based compensation  -   -   42   -   42 
Net loss  -   -   -   (306)  (306)
Balances, March 31, 2020  1,399,754   14   137,156   (127,985)  9,185 
Share-based compensation  -   -   64   -   64 
Net loss  -   -   -   (3,651)  (3,651)
Balances, June 30, 2020  1,399,754   14   137,220   (131,636)  5,598 
Share-based compensation  -   -   64   -   64 
Exercise of stock warrants  50,000   1   564   -   565 
Net loss  -   -   -   (1,713)  (1,713)
Balances, September 30, 2020  1,449,754  $15  $137,848  $(133,349) $4,514 
                     
Balances, December 31, 2018  1,340,583  $13  $136,835  $(127,129) $9,719 
Share-based compensation  -   -   13   -   13 
Net income  -   -   -   15   15 
Balances, March 31, 2019  1,340,583   13   136,848   (127,114)  9,747 
Share-based compensation          13       13 
Net income              20   20 
Balances, June 30, 2019  1,340,583   13   136,861   (127,094)  9,780 
Share-based compensation          9       9 
Net loss              (281)  (281)
Balances, September 30, 2019  1,340,583  $13  $137,870  $(127,375) $9,508 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

U.S. ENERGY CORP. AND SUBSIDIARYSUBSIDIARIES

UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

FOR THE NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 20192020 AND 20182019

(in thousands)

 

 2019  2018  2020  2019 
          
Cash flows from operating activities:                
Net loss $(246) $(950) $(5,670) $(246)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities:        
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash (used in) provided by operating activities:        
Depreciation, depletion, accretion, and amortization  686   465   352   651 
Impairment of oil and gas properties  2,943   - 
Impairment of real estate  403   - 
Loss on real estate held for sale  651   - 
Loss on marketable equity securities  153   235 
Loss (gain) on warrant revaluation  65   (219)
Stock-based compensation  170   35 
Right of use asset amortization  38   35 
Debt issuance cost amortization  7   10   -   7 
Change in fair value of commodity derivative contracts  -   (124)
Loss (gain) on marketable equity securities  235   (80)
Gain on warrant revaluation  (219)  (478)
Stock-based compensation  35   623 
Other  1   4 
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:                
Decrease (increase) in:                
Oil and natural gas sales receivable  (415)  (240)  531   (415)
Transaction deposit  (50)  (124)
Other assets  187   (4)  (20)  138 
Increase (decrease) in:                
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities  149   (367)  (188)  149 
Accrued compensation and benefits  (35)  337   66   (35)
Payments on operating lease liability  (38)  -   (43)  (38)
                
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities  297   (928)
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities  (549)  297 
                
Cash flows from investing activities:                
Acquisition of New Horizon Resources, net of cash acquired  (122)  - 
Acquisition of FieldPoint properties  (529)  - 
Oil and natural gas capital expenditures  (142)  (209)  (79)  (142)
Purchase of property and equipment  -   (9)
Proceeds from sale of marketable securities  45   - 
Payment received on note receivable  20   -   20   20 
                
Net cash used in investing activities:  (122)  (218)  (665)  (122)
                
Cash flows from financing activities:                
Issuance of common stock, net of fees  -   1,666 
Payment on credit facility  (937)  (600)  (61)  (937)
Shares repurchased for employee tax withholding  -   (204)
Payments on insurance premium note  (193)  - 
Proceeds from secured note payable  375   - 
Payments on insurance premium finance note payable  (157)  (193)
Proceeds from warrant exercise  565   - 
Payment for fractional shares in reverse stock split  (1)  - 
                
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities  (1,130)  862 
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities  721   (1,130)
                
Net decrease in cash and equivalents  (955)  (284)  (493)  (955)
                
Cash and equivalents, beginning of period  2,340   3,277   1,532   2,340 
                
Cash and equivalents, end of period $1,385  $2,993  $1,039  $1,385 
                
Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information and non-cash activities:                
Cash payments for interest $26  $105  $5  $26 
Investing activities:                
Issuance of stock in acquisition of New Horizon Resources  240   - 
Change in capital expenditure accruals  24   -   58   24 
Exchange of undeveloped lease acreage for oil and gas properties  379   -   -   379 
Adoption of lease standard  228   -   -   228 
Asset retirement obligations  (14)  -   (315)  (14)
Financing activities:      -         
New Horizon credit facility assumed  61   - 
Financing of insurance premiums with note payable  228   -   199   228 

 

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

U.S. ENERGY CORP. AND SUBSIDIARYSUBSIDIARIES

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

1. ORGANIZATION, OPERATIONS AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

 

Organization and Operations

 

U.S. Energy Corp. (collectively with its wholly owned subsidiary, Energy One LLC,subsidiaries, is referred to as the “Company” in these Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements) was incorporated in the State of Wyoming on January 26, 1966. The Company’s principal business activities are focused inon the acquisition, exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties in the United States.

 

Basis of Presentation

 

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements are presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and have been prepared by the Company pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) regarding interim financial reporting. Accordingly, certain information and footnote disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements have been condensed or omitted in accordance with such rules and regulations. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) considered necessary for a fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements have been included.

 

For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.2019, as filed with the SEC on March 30, 2020. Our financial condition as of September 30, 2019,2020, and operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019,2020, are not necessarily indicative of the financial condition and results of operations that may be expected for any future interim period or for the year ending December 31, 2019.2020.

 

Liquidity and Going ConcernReverse Stock Split

 

As of September 30, 2019,On January 6, 2020, the Company had cash of $1.4 million,completed a working capital surplus of $1.7 million and an accumulated deficit of $127.4 million. At November 12, 2019, the Company had a cash balance of $1.7 million and accounts payable of approximately $6.5 million. During 2019, the Company has instituted measuresone-for-ten reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) with respect to preserve liquidity by reducing the use of third-party contractors, cutting corporate overhead and eliminating other general and administrative costs.

However, our liquidity is affected to a large degree by commodity prices, which have fluctuated significantly during recent years. Currently, the Company does not have any commodity derivative contracts in place to protect it in the event of a downturn in commodity prices. In addition, as described inNote 8-Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactions the costs associated with the ongoing litigation during 2019 have been a significant use of the Company’s existing cash. Continued excessive legal fees associated with litigation could impairoutstanding common stock. For purposes of presentation, the Company’s liquidity profile. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to fund operations for the next twelve months and continue as a going concern. The accompanyingunaudited condensed consolidated financial statements do not include adjustments relating toand footnotes have been adjusted for the recoverability and classificationnumber of recorded asset amounts or amountspost-split shares as if the split had occurred at the beginning of liabilities that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.earliest period presented.

 

Use of Estimates

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates include oil and natural gas reserves that are used in the calculation of depreciation, depletion, amortization and impairment of the carrying value of evaluated oil and natural gas properties; realizability of unevaluated properties; production and commodity price estimates used to record accrued oil and natural gas sales receivables; valuation of warrant instruments; valuation of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in acquisitions and the cost of future asset retirement obligations. The Company evaluates its estimates on an on-going basis and bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions the Company believes to be reasonable. Due to inherent uncertainties, including the future prices of oil and natural gas, these estimates could change in the near term and such changes could be material.

Principles of Consolidation

 

The accompanying financial statements include the accounts of U.S. Energy Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiarywholly-owned subsidiaries Energy One LLC (“Energy One”) and New Horizon Resources LLC (“New Horizon”). All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation of the accompanying financial statements.

 

Adopted and Recently IssuedAdopted Accounting Pronouncements

 

Leases.Fair Value Measurements. In February 2016,August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”)(FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”)(ASU) No. 2016-02,Leases (Topic 842),followed by other related ASUs that targeted improvements and additional practical expedient options (collectively “ASU 2016-02”). The standard requires lessees to recognize right-of-use assets and lease payment liabilities on the balance sheet for leases representing the Company’s right to use the underlying assets for the lease term. Each lease that is recognized in the balance sheet will be classified as either finance or operating, with such classification affecting the pattern and classification of expense recognition in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and presentation within the condensed consolidated statements of cash flow.

The Company evaluated the impacts of ASU 2016-02, which included an analysis of contracts for office leases. As a non-operator of oil and natural gas properties, the Company is not subject to drilling rig agreements, well completion agreements, water handling agreements, or other contracts that include potential lease components. In addition, the scope of ASU 2016-02 does not apply to leases used in the exploration or use of minerals, oil, natural gas or other similar non-regenerative resources. SeeNote 3-Leasesfor additional information regarding the Company’s adoption of this standard including policy elections and the impact to the condensed consolidated financial statements at September 30, 2019.

Financial instruments with characteristics of liabilities and equity. On July 13, 2017, the FASB issued a two-part ASU No. 2017-11, I. Accounting for Certain Financials Instruments with Down Round Features and II. Replacement of the Indefinite Deferral for Mandatorily Redeemable Financial Instruments of Certain Nonpublic Entities and Certain Mandatorily Redeemable Noncontrolling Interest with a Scope Exception. The ASU is effective for public business entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2018. The Company assessed the new standard as it relates to warrants issued by the Company in December 2016, which contain a down round feature. The Company determined through an assessment of the warrants in relation toASC 815-40, Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity, that there were other provisions in the warrant agreement that precluded equity classification, including an option of the holder to receive the calculated fair value of the warrant from the Company in cash in the event of a “Fundamental Transaction,” as defined in the warrant agreement. Therefore, the Company will continue to classify the warrants as liabilities with changes in fair value recorded in other income in the condensed consolidated statement of operations in the period

of the change .

Fair Value Measurements.In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13,Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurements. The ASU amends the disclosure requirements in Topic 820,Fair Value Measurements. The amendments in this ASU are effective for all entities for fiscal years, and interim periods within those fiscal years, beginning after December 15, 2019. The Company plans to adopt this ASU asAs a result of January 1, 2020. The Company is in the process of assessing the impact theCompany’s adoption of this ASU will have on itsJanuary 1, 2020, the fair value disclosures.measurement disclosures for the warrants, which are the Company’s only Level 3 fair value measurement changed. The Company removed the disclosure of the processes for measuring the warrants and added quantitative information of the significant unobservable inputs used to develop the valuation of the warrants.

2. ACQUISITIONS

 

2.New Horizon Resources

On March 1, 2020, the Company acquired all the issued and outstanding equity interests of New Horizon. Its assets include acreage and operated producing properties in North Dakota (the “New Horizon Properties”). The Company accounted for the acquisition of the New Horizon Properties as a business combination. The consideration paid at closing consisted of 59,498 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock, $150,000 in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities (the “New Horizon Acquisition”). The New Horizon Acquisition gives the Company operated properties in its core area of operations. The New Horizon Properties consist of nine gross wells (five net wells), and approximately 1,300 net acres located primarily in McKenzie and Divide Counties, North Dakota, which are 100% held by production and average a 63% working interest.

  Amount 
  (in thousands) 
Fair value of net assets:    
Proved oil and natural gas properties $564 
Other current assets  14 
Other long-term assets  58 
Total assets acquired  636 
Asset retirement obligations  (163)
Current payables  (50)
Credit facility  (61)
Net assets acquired $362 
Fair value of consideration paid for net assets:    
Cash consideration $150 
Issuance of common stock (59,498 shares at $4.04 per share)  240 
Cash acquired  (28)
Total fair value of consideration transferred $362 

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company recorded revenues of approximately $69 thousand, and lease operating and workover expenses of approximately $131 thousand related to the New Horizon Properties. Assuming that the acquisition of the New Horizon properties had occurred on January 1, 2019, the Company would have recorded revenues of $100 thousand and expenses of $153 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2020, and revenues of $192 thousand and expenses of $258 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. These results are not necessarily indicative of the results that would have occurred had the Company completed the acquisition on the date indicated, or that will be attained in the future. Subsequent to the closing of the New Horizon Acquisition, the Company repaid the outstanding liabilities assumed at closing.

FieldPoint Petroleum

On September 25, 2020, the Company acquired certain oil and gas properties primarily located in Lea County, New Mexico and Converse County, Wyoming. The properties were acquired from FieldPoint Petroleum Corporation (“FieldPoint”) pursuant to FieldPoint’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy process (the “FieldPoint Properties”). The Company accounted for the acquisition of the FieldPoint Properties as an asset acquisition. Total cash paid for the FieldPoint Properties as of September 30, 2020, was $529 thousand, which includes the purchase price of $500 thousand and transaction costs of $29 thousand. In addition, the Company accrued $80 thousand for unpaid transaction costs and recorded asset retirement obligations of $236 thousand for the assets acquired. Substantially all of the value of the FieldPoint Proerties acquired consists of mature proved developed producing reserves. Following is a summary of the amounts recorded for the assets acquired:

  Amount 
  (in thousands) 
Amounts incurred:    
Cash consideration $500 
Transaction costs  109 
Total $609 
    
Asset retirement obligations $(236)

3. REAL ESTATE HELD FOR SALE

The Company owns a 14-acre tract in Riverton, Wyoming with a two-story, 30,400 square foot office building. The building served as the Company’s corporate headquarters until 2015 and is currently being leased to government agencies and other non-affiliated companies. In 2020 the Company made the decision to sell the land and building and began a process to determine the price at which it would list the property for sale. The process included obtaining an appraisal, analyzing operating statements for the building, reviewing capitalization rates and consulting a large national commercial real estate company. The Company determined that the realizable value of the building was in the range of $700 thousand to $900 thousand. A special committee of the board of directors was formed to evaluate the sales process and is exploring all available options to sell the land and building and will ultimately recommend any action to the Board of Directors regarding any potential sale. During the three months ended September 30, 2020 the Company entered into an agreement with a large national commercial broker to sell the building. Following are the pre-impairment carrying amounts of the land and building at September 30, 2020, the estimated net proceeds, and a calculation of the loss recognized as a component of other income and expense in the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations.

  Amount 
  (in thousands) 
Pre-impairment carrying value of real estate held for sale:    
Building $720 
Building improvements  276 
Land  380 
Total  1,376 
     
Fair value of real estate held for sale:    
Estimated sales price $800 
Estimated cost to sell  (75)
Estimated net proceeds $725 
     
Loss recognized on real estate assets held for sale $651 

9

4. REVENUE RECOGNITION

 

The Company’s revenues are derived from its interest in the sales of oil and natural gas production. ThePrior to the acquisition of New Horizon, which was completed on March 1, 2020, and the acquisition of FieldPoint Petroleum, which was completed on September 25, 2020 all sales of oil and natural gas arewere made under contracts that third-party operators of oil and natural gas wells have negotiated with customers. The Company receives paymentpayments from the sale of oil and natural gas production between one to three months after delivery. At the end of each period when the performance obligation is satisfied, the variable consideration can be reasonably estimated and amounts due from customers are accrued in oil and natural gas sales receivable in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets. Variances between the Company’s estimated revenue and actual payments are recorded in the month the payment is received; however, differences have been and are insignificant. Accordingly, the variable consideration is not constrained. As a non-operator of its oil and natural gas properties, the Company records its share of the revenues and expenses based upon the information provided by the operators within the revenue statements.

The Company does not disclose the values of unsatisfied performance obligations under its contracts with customers as it applies the practical exemption in accordance with ASC 606. The exemption applies to variable consideration that is recognized as control of the product is transferred to the customer. Since each unit of product represents a separate performance obligation, future volumes are wholly unsatisfied, and disclosure of the transaction price allocated to the remaining performance obligations is not required.

 

The Company’s oil and natural gas production is typically sold at delivery points to various purchasers under contract terms that are common in the oil and natural gas industry. Regardless of the contract type, the terms of these contracts compensate the well operators for the value of the oil and natural gas at specified prices, and then the well operators remit payment to the Company for its share in the value of the oil and natural gas sold.

 

Generally, the Company reports revenue as the gross amount received from the well operators before taking into account production taxes and transportation costs. Production taxes are reported separately, and transportation costs are included in lease operating expense in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations. The revenues and costs in the condensed consolidated financial statements were reported gross for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019,2020, as the gross amounts were known.

 

The following table presents our disaggregated revenue by major source and geographic area for the three and nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018.2019.

 

 Three Months Ended
September 30,
 Nine Months Ended
September 30,
  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
 2019 2018 2019 2018  2020  2019  2020  2019 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Revenue:                         
North Dakota                                
Oil $564  $795  $1,723  $2,384  $270  $564  $901  $1,723 
Natural gas and liquids  16   65   109   240 
Natural gas and liquids (1)  34   16   66   109 
Total $580  $860  $1,832  $2,624  $304  $580  $967  $1,832 
                                
Texas                                
Oil $1,007  $325  $3,023  $1,258  $92  $1,007  $517  $3,023 
Natural gas and liquids  46   39   211   168   5   46   29   211 
Total $1,053  $364  $3,234  $1,426  $97  $1,053  $546  $3,234 
                                
Louisiana                
Oil $-  $-  $-  $- 
Natural gas and liquids  -   (2)  -   300 
Total $-  $(2) $-  $300 
                
Combined Total $1,633  $1,222  $5,066  $4,350 
Total revenue $401  $1,633  $1,513  $5,066 

Significant concentrations of credit risk

The Company has exposure to credit risk in the event of nonpayment by joint interest operators and purchasers of the Company’s oil and natural gas properties. During the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the joint interest operators that accounted for 10% or more of the Company’s total oil and natural gas revenue for at least one of the periods presented are as follows:

Operator 2020  2019 
       
CML Exploration LLC  32%  54%
Zavanna LLC  47%  29%

 

3.5. LEASES

 

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 using the modified retrospective approach. Results for the reporting periods beginning January 1, 2019 are presented in accordance with ASC 842, while prior period amounts are reported in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 840-Leases. On January 1, 2019, the Companyapproach and recorded a $228 thousand right-of-use asset and a $252 thousand lease liability representing the present value of minimum payment obligations associated with ourthe Company’s Denver office operating lease, which has non-cancellable terms in excess of one year. We doThe Company does not have any financing leases. The Company has elected the following practical expedients available under ASC 842842: (i) excluding from the condensed consolidated balance sheet leases with terms that are less than one year, (ii) for agreements that contain both lease and non-lease components, combining these components together and accounting for them as a single lease, (iii) the package of practical expedients, which allows the Company to avoid reassessing contracts that commenced prior to adoption that were properly evaluated under legacy GAAP, and (iv) the policy election that eliminates the need for adjusting prior period comparable financial statements prepared under legacy lease accounting guidance. As such, there was no required cumulative effect adjustment to accumulated deficit at January 1, 2019.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Company did not acquire any right-of-use assets or incur any lease liabilities. The Company’s right-of-use assets and lease liabilities are recognized at their discounted present value onunder the following captions in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet at September 30, 2019, of $191 thousand2020 and $214 thousand, respectively.December 31, 2019:

 

  

As of

September 30, 2019

 
   (in thousands) 
Right-of-use asset balance    
Operating leases $191 
Lease liability balance    
Short-term operating leases $56 
Long-term operating lease  158 
Total operating leases $214 

  

September 30, 2020

  

December 31, 2019

 
  (in thousands) 
Right of use asset balance        
Operating lease $141  $179 
Lease liability balance        
Short-term operating lease $63  $58 
Long-term operating lease  95   142 
  $158  $200 

The Company recognizes lease expense on a straight linestraight-line basis excluding short-term and variable lease payments, which are recognized as incurred. Short-term lease costs represent payments for our Houston, Texas office lease, which has a lease term of one year. Beginning in March 2020, the Company subleased its Denver, Colorado office and recognized sublease income.

 

 Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
 

Three Months Ended September 30, 2019

 

Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2019

  2020  2019  2020  2019 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Operating lease cost $17  $51  $17  $17  $51  $51 
Short-term lease cost  3   11   6   4   16   11 
Total lease cost $20  $62 
Sublease income  (10)  -   (25)  - 
Total lease costs $13  $21  $42  $62 

 

The Company’s Denver office operating lease does not contain an implicit interest rate that can be readily determined. Therefore, the Company used the incremental borrowing rate of 8.75% as established under the Company’s prior credit facility as the discount rate.

 

As of

September 30, 2019

Weighted average lease term (years)3.3
Weighted average discount rate8.75%
  September 30, 
  2020  2019 
  (in thousands) 
Weighted average lease term (years)  2.3   3.3 
Weighted average discount rate  8.75%  8.75%

 

The future minimum lease commitments as of September 30, 20192020 are presented in the table below. Such commitments are reflected at undiscounted values and are reconciled to the discounted present value on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheet as follows:

 

 

As of

September 30, 2019

  Amount 
 (in thousands) 
Remainder of 2019 $18 
2020  73 
Remainder of 2020 $18 
2021  75   75 
2022  76   76 
2023  6   6 
Total lease payments $248   175 
Less: imputed interest  (34)  (17)
Total lease liability $214  $158 

The

As discussed in Note 3- Real Estate Held for Sale, the Company owns a 14-acre tract in Riverton, Wyoming with a two-story, 30,400 square foot office building. The Company recognized a loss on real estate held for sale related to the building which served asand land during the Company’s corporate headquarters until the Company relocated its corporate headquarters in 2015. Currently, the building’s eight office suites are rented to non-affiliates and government agencies under operating leases with varying terms from month-to-month to twelve years.nine months ended September 30, 2020 of $651 thousand. The building will not be depreciated while it is included in property and equipment, net on our condensed consolidated balance sheet.held for sale. The net capitalized cost of the building and the land subject to operating leases at September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019 isare as follows:

 

  

As of

September 30, 2019

 
   (in thousands) 
Building subject to operating leases $4,012 
Less: accumulated depreciation  (3,220)
Building subject to operating leases, net $792 

  

September 30,
2020

  

December 31,
2019

 
  (in thousands) 
Building subject to operating leases $4,654  $4,654 
Land  380   380 
Less: accumulated depreciation  (3,658)  (3,599)
Loss on real estate held for sale  (651)  - 
Building subject to operating leases, net $725  $1,435 

The future lease maturities of the Company’s operating leases as of September 30, 20192020 are presented in the table below. Such maturities are reflected at undiscounted values to be received on an annual basis.

 

 Amount  Amount 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Remainder of 2019 $46 
2020  158 
Remainder of 2020 $40 
2021  161   161 
2022  165   165 
2023  169   169 
2024  163   163 
Remaining through June 2029  695   695 
Total lease maturities $1,557  $1,393 

 

The Company recognized the following operating lease incomeloss on rental property related to its Riverton, Wyoming office building for the three and nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018:2019:

 

  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
  2019  2018  2019  2018 
  (in thousands) 
Operating lease income $54  $49  $150  $138 

4. COMMODITY PRICE RISK DERIVATIVES

Energy One from time to time enters into commodity price derivative contracts (“economic hedges”). The derivative contracts are typically priced based on West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) quoted prices for crude oil and Henry Hub quoted prices for natural gas. U.S. Energy Corp. guarantees Energy One’s obligations under economic hedges. The objective of utilizing the economic hedges is to reduce the effect of price changes on a portion of the Company’s future oil production, achieve more predictable cash flows in an environment of volatile oil and natural gas prices and to manage the Company’s exposure to commodity price risk. The use of these derivative instruments limits the downside risk of adverse price movements. However, there is a risk that such use may limit the Company’s ability to benefit from favorable price movements. Energy One may, from time to time, add incremental derivatives to hedge additional production, restructure existing derivative contracts or enter into new transactions to modify the terms of current contracts in order to realize the current value of its existing positions. The Company does not engage in speculative derivative activities or derivative trading activities, nor does it use derivatives with leveraged features. As of and during the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2019, the Company did not have any commodity price derivatives. The following table presents the Company’s realized and unrealized derivative gains and losses for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2019 and 2018:

  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
  2019  2018  2019  2018 
  (in thousands) 
Net derivative gain (loss):                
Realized gains and (losses):                
Oil $-  $(9) $-  $(381)
Natural gas  -   8   -   32 
Total $-  $(1) $-  $(349)
                 
Unrealized gains and (losses):                
Oil $-  $(1) $-  $175 
Natural Gas  -   (12)  -   (51)
Total $-  $(13) $-  $124 
  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
  2020  2019  2020  2019 
  (in thousands) 
Operating lease income $51  $54  $161  $150 
Operating lease expense  (56)  (34)  (143)  (99)
Depreciation  -   (36)  (58)  (90)
Rental property loss, net $(5) $(16) $(40) $(39)

 

5.6. OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES

In May 2019, the Company exchanged approximately 905 leasehold acres of the Georgetown formation and deeper rights in Dimmit and Zavala counties for working interests in certain wells that were drilled by CML Exploration in the first half of 2019. The effective date of the exchange was March 1, 2019.

 

Ceiling Test and Impairment

 

The reserves used in the ceiling test incorporate assumptions regarding pricing and discount rates over which management has no influence in the determination of present value. In the calculation of the ceiling test as of September 30, 2019,2020, the Company used $61.45$43.40 per barrel for oil and $3.02$1.97 per MMbtuone million British Thermal Units (MMbtu) for natural gas (as further adjusted for property, specific gravity, quality, local markets and distance from markets) to compute the future cash flows of the Company’s producing properties. The discount factor used was 10%.

 

There was no impairment forThe Company recorded ceiling test write-downs of its oil and natural gas properties of $1.1 million and $2.9 million during the nine-monththree and nine month periods ended September 30, 2019 and 20182020, respectively, due to a reduction in the value of the Company’sproved oil and natural gas properties. Impairment charges in previous years are generally thereserves primarily as a result of declinesa decrease in crude oil prices and the performance of a South Texas well drilled in the priceprior year. In addition, the Company evaluated its unevaluated property and recorded a reclassification to the depletable base of the full cost pool of $2.1 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 related to a reduction in value of certain of its acreage.

7. DEBT

On September 24, 2020, the Company entered into a $375 thousand secured promissory note with APEG Energy II LP, which entity Patrick E. Duke, a director of the Company, has shared voting power and shared investment power over (“APEG II”) (the “Note”). The Note accrues interest at 10% per annum and matures on September 24, 2021. The Note is secured by the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Energy One’s oil and natural gas additional capitalized well costs and changes in production.

6. DEBT

producing properties. In the event that the Note is repaid prior to the maturity date there is a prepayment penalty of 10% of the principal amount of the Note less accrued interest. At September 30, 2020, APEG II held approximately 40% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.

On December 27, 2017, the Company entered into an exchange agreement (“Exchange Agreement”) by and among U.S. Energy Corp., its wholly owned subsidiary Energy One and APEG Energy II, L.P. (“APEG II”), pursuant to which, on the terms and subject to the conditions of the Exchange Agreement, APEG II exchanged $4.5 million of outstanding borrowings under the Company’s credit facility for 5,819,270581,927 newly-issued shares of common stock of the Company, par value $0.01 per share, with an exchange price of $0.767,$7.67, which represented a 1.3% premium over the 30-day volume weighted average price of the Company’s common stock on September 20, 2017 (the “Exchange Shares”). Accrued, unpaid interest on the credit facility held by APEG II was paid in cash at the closing of the transaction. As of September 30, 2019, APEG II held approximately 43% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.

 

As of September 30, 2019, there were no outstanding borrowings under the credit facility. At December 31, 2018, outstanding borrowings under the credit facility were $937 thousand. The credit facility was fully repaid in full on March 1, 2019 and the credit facility matured on July 30, 2019.2019, matured and was terminated. Borrowings under the credit facility were secured by Energy One’s oil and natural gas producing properties. Interest expense on the credit facility for the three months ended September 30, 2018 was $24 thousand, including amortization of debt issuance costs of $3 thousand. Interest expense on the credit facility for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 was $20 thousand, and $83 thousand, respectively, including the amortization of debt issuance costs of $7 thousand and $10 thousand, respectively.thousand. The weighted average interest rate on the credit facility was 8.75% for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019 and for both the three and nine-month period ended September 30, 2018.until maturity in 2019.

 

Pursuant to the terms of the credit facility, Energy One was required to comply with customary affirmative covenants and with certain negative covenants. The principal negative financial covenants did not permit (i) the Proved Developed Producing Coverage Ratio to be less than 1.2 to 1; and (ii) the current ratio to be less than 1.0 to 1.0. Additionally, the credit facility prohibited or limited Energy One’s ability to incur additional debt, pay cash dividends and other restricted payments, sell assets, enter into transactions with affiliates, and to merge or consolidate with another company. U.S. Energy Corp. was a guarantor of Energy One’s obligations under the credit facility. U.S. Energy Corp. and Energy One are currently involved in litigation with APEG II and its general partner, APEG Energy II, GP (together with APEG II, “APEG”). SeeNote 8-Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactions.

7.8. WRITE-OFF OF DEPOSIT

 

In December 2017, the Company entered into a letterLetter of intentIntent (���LOI”) with Clean Energy Technology Association, Inc. (“CETA”) to purchase an option to acquire 50 shares of CETA, or lease certain oil and natural gas properties inside an area of mutual interest. The Company made a $250 thousand$250,000 option payment, which was refundable in the event that the Company and CETA were unable to complete the transaction by August 1, 2018. In February 2018, the Company paid an additional $124 thousand$124,000 to CETA. In September 2019, the Company issued CETA a demand letter requesting return of the amounts deposited. As of November 12, 2019September 30, 2020, the Company has received twosix payments from CETA totaling $100 thousand.$250,000. While the Company is pursuing collection of $50,000 of the remaining deposit, the Company has established an allowance forof the remaining amount due from CETA of $274 thousand at September 30, 20192020, due to the uncertainty of collection. SeeNote 89-Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactions.

 

8.9. COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

 

Litigation

Arbitration of Employment Claim.

In July 2020, the Company received a request for arbitration from its former Chief Executive Officer claiming that the Company breached his employment agreement. The Company intends to vigorously contest this matter and believes these claims are without merit. The employment agreement requires that any disputes be submitted to binding arbitration. The Company has insurance for these types of claims and has reported the request for arbitration to its insurance carrier. The Company believes it is probable that it will incur future defense costs in this matter and has accrued $100 thousand at September 30, 2020, representing the amount of the Company’s responsibility for costs under the insurance policy.

As of September 30, 2020 all litigation as described below involving the Company, its former Chief Executive Officer, David Veltri and APEG II and its general partner, APEG Energy II, GP (together with APEG II, “APEG”), are involved in litigation with the Company and its former Chief Executive Officer, David Veltri, as described below. has been dismissed. As of September 30, 2020, APEG II holdsheld approximately 43%40% of the Company’s outstanding common stock, is the holder of its secured promissory note and was itsthe secured lender under the Company’s credit facility, prior to theits maturity on July 30, 2019 of a credit facility the Company had with APEG II. The costs associated with the ongoing litigation have been a significant use of the Company’s existing cash. While the Company has historically funded all litigation costs out of operating cash flow, continued excessive legal fees associated with litigation could impair the Company’s liquidity profile and ability to fund significant drilling obligations.2019.

 

APEG II Litigation

 

On February 14, 2019, the Company’s board of directors (the Board”) (only one member of which remained on the Board following the Company’s 2019 Annual Meeting of DirectorsShareholders held on December 10, 2019) received a letter from APEG II the largest shareholder of the Company and, at that time, the Company’s secured lender under the credit facility, urging the Company to work with APEG II and other shareholders to establish a seven-person, independent board of directors, establish a corporate business plan and reduce the Company’sits corporate general and administrative expenses. APEG II is the Company’s largest shareholder, owning approximately 40% of its outstanding common stock, and, as of September 30, 2020, was the secured lender under its secured promissory note.

On February 25, 2019, APEG II provided an access termination notice to the Company’s bank under its collateral documents, and the bank confirmed to the Company that access to its collateral accounts was terminated. On February 26, 2019, APEG II provided account disposition instructions to the Company’s subsidiary’s bank instructing the bank to deliver to APEG IIwhich resulted in all of the funds held in the collateral accounts, which totaled $1,794,294. The funds wereapproximately $1.8 million, being wired by the bank to APEG II on March 1, 2019.

On March 1, 2019, David Veltri, ourthe Company’s former Chief Executive Officer and President, filed a lawsuit against APEG II in the Company’s name (the “Texas Litigation”) by filing an Original Petition and Application for Temporary Restraining Order, Temporary Injunction, Permanent Injunction, and Appointment of Receiver, Case No. 2019-15528 (the “Action”), in the District Court of Harris County Texas, 190th190th Judicial District (the “State“Texas State Court”), naming APEG II and its general partner as defendants.. The Texas State Court granted the motion for a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) and ordered APEG to return immediately the $1,794,294approximate $1.8 million in cash previously wired to APEG II.

 

On March 4, 2019, APEG II filed a Notice of Removal and an Emergency Motion to Stay or Modify State Court Temporary Restraining Order inemergency motion with the United StatesU.S. District Court for the SothernSouthern District of Texas Houston Division, Case No. 4:19-cv-00754 (the “Texas Federal Court”), in order to remove the Texas Litigation from the Texas State Court to the Texas Federal District Court and to stay or modify the TRO. Following a hearing on March 4, 2019, the Texas Federal Court vacated the TRO. On March 7, 2019, at the continued hearing on emergency motions,TRO and the Court ordered APEG II to return ourthe Company’s funds, less the outstanding balance due to APEG II under the credit facility of $936,620, andapproximately $937 thousand, resulting in the Company received back $857,674.receiving approximately $850 thousand.

 

On February 25, 2019, the Company’s Board held a meeting at which it voted to terminate for cause Mr. Veltri from his positionfor cause as Chief Executive Officer and President as a result of using Company funds in excessoutside of and inconsistent with, certainhis authority granted by the Board and other reasons. Mr. Veltri, along with John Hoffman, a former Board member, of the Board, called into question whether or not such action was properly taken at the Board meeting. On March 8, 2019, the Company’s Audit Committee as an official committee of the Board, represented by independent counsel retained by the Audit Committee, intervened by filing in the Texas Litigation by filing an Emergency Motion of the Official Audit Committee of the Board of U.S. Energy Requesting Company Protections Necessary for Releasing Funds Pending Internal Investigationemergency motion (the “AC Motion”). The AC Motion requested that the Texas Federal Court order that all of the Company’s funds financial, and monetary matters be placed under the control of the Company’sits Chief Financial Officer and that control of these functions be removed from the Company’sits former Chief Executive Officer, who the Audit Committee believed had been properly terminated by the Board on February 25, 2019.

 

On March 12, 2019, the Texas Federal Court granted the AC Motion, and issued an additional Management Order, ordering that any disbursement made by the Company must be approved in writing by the Audit Committee in advance. Additionally, the Management Order statedTexas Federal Court ordered that the Company’s Chief Financial Officer must be appointed as the sole signatory on all of the Company’s bank accounts.

On July 30, 2020, the Company, filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal of its lawsuit against Mr. Veltri. All matters related to the Texas litigation were dismissed in August 2020.

 

Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer

 

In connection with the above described litigation with APEG II, APEG II then initiated a second lawsuit on March 18, 2019 as a shareholder derivative action in Colorado against Mr. Veltri, the Company’s former Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, and President, as a result of his refusal to recognize the Board’s decision to terminate him for cause (the “Colorado Litigation”). The Company was named as a nominal defendant in the Colorado Litigation, Civil Action No. 1:19-cv-00801 before the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (the “Colorado Federal Court”), filed on March 18, 2019.

Litigation. The APEG II complaint in the Colorado Litigation alleged that Mr. Veltri’s employment was terminated by the Board of Directors and sought an injunction and temporary restraining order against Mr. Veltri to prevent him from continuing to act as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman, which he claimed he was entitled to continue doing. Mr. Veltri currently remains a member of the Board of Directors of the Company.Chairman.

 

Meanwhile, APEG II asserted claims against the Company directly in the Texas Litigation, while in roughly the same period, counsel for Mr. Veltri withdrew from the Texas Litigation, leaving the Company without counsel with respect to the claims asserted in the Company’s name and the APEG II claims asserted against the Company in the Texas Litigation. The Texas Federal Court ordered the Audit Committee to identify counsel to represent or act in the name of the Company in the Texas Litigation on or byOn April 30, 2019. On that date,2019, the Audit Committee took over the control of the defense of the Company, prosecution of its claims against APEG II, and filed third-party claims on behalf of the Company against Mr. Veltri and JohnMr. Hoffman, at the time a director of the Company, asserting that Mr. Veltri was responsible for any damages that APEG II claims,claimed, including attorneys’ fees, and that Mr. Veltri and Mr. Hoffman should be removed from the Board of Directors in accordance with the laws of the State of Wyoming.Board. On May 22, 2019, the Company and APEG II entered into a settlement agreement with Mr. Hoffman, pursuant to which Mr. Hoffman agreed to resign from the Board of Directors and committees thereof, and the Company agreed to pay up to $50,000 of Mr. Hoffman’shis legal fees incurred with respect to the Texas Litigation.incurred. Further, the Company released Mr. Hoffman from any claims related to the Texas Litigation, APEG II released the Company from any claims that may have been caused by Mr. Hoffman, and Mr. Hoffman released the Company and two of the Company’s current directors from any and all claims Mr. Hoffmanhe may have.have had against the Company and its Board.

In the Colorado Litigation, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (“the Colorado Federal Court entered an order on May 16, 2019 (the “Order”Court”) grantinggranted interim preliminary injunctive relief to APEG II against Mr. Veltri, holding that Mr. Veltri, without authorization, continued to hold himself out to be, and continued to act as, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Pursuant to the Order, Mr. Veltri was preliminarily enjoined from acting as, or holding himself out to be, the Company’s President and/or Chief Executive Officer.Officer, pending a trial on the merits. Ryan L. Smith, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer ofat the Company,time, was appointed temporary Custodiancustodian of the Company with the charge to act as the Company’s interimInterim Chief Executive Officer.

 

On May 30, 2019, and following briefing by the parties to the Colorado Litigation, the Colorado Federal Court issued a subsequent order (the “Second Order”), appointing C. Randel Lewis as Custodiancustodian of the Company pursuant to the Wyoming Business Corporation Act and to take over for Mr. Smith in acting as the Company’s interimInterim Chief Executive Officer and to serve on the Board of Directors as Chairman. As noted in the Second Order, two of the Company’s Board members had moved in the Board meeting on February 25, 2019 to terminate Mr. Veltri as President and Chief Executive Officer for cause by a vote of two to one. However, there was a dispute among the Board members as to whether the Board meeting was properly called and whether Mr. Veltri should have been allowed to vote on his own termination. The outcome of the vote on Mr. Veltri’s termination was in dispute as Mr. Veltri contended that he should have voted on his termination, and had he voted, Mr. Veltri would have voted against his own termination, thus creating a board deadlock preventing his termination. Specifically, Mr. Veltri contended the Board, which consisted of four members at that time, remained deadlocked on the issue, which prompted APEG II to file the above-mentioned suit against Mr. Veltri to have him removed as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. The Second Order noted that the primary purpose of having Mr. Lewis serve as Custodiancustodian was to resolve the aforementioned Board deadlock.deadlock regarding Mr. Veltri’s termination. Pursuant to the Second Order, Mr. Lewis, as Custodian,custodian, was ordered to act in place of the Board to appoint one independent director to replace Mr. Hoffman. On June 13, 2019, Mr. Lewis appointed Catherine J. Boggs to serve as an independent director until the next2019 annual meeting of the Company’s shareholders.shareholders, which was held on December 10, 2019. Following such annual meeting, the Board of Directors isappointed Ryan L. Smith to vote on a newserve as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, to replacereplacing Mr. Lewis in that role, androle. Following the annual meeting, the Colorado Federal Court also discharged Mr. Lewis will be discharged from serving as the Company’s Custodian, interimcustodian, Interim Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board. Unless otherwise ruled by the Colorado Federal Court, the tenure of the replacement Chief Executive Officer may last only so long as it takes the Colorado Federal Court to resolve the disputes in the Colorado Litigation.

Following the issuance of the Second Order, the Audit Committee of the Company, which had been continuing its investigation into Mr. Veltri’s actions while he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, engaged an independent accounting firm to conduct a forensic accounting of the Company’s books and records in an effort to determine whether certain of Mr. Veltri’s actions regarding his use of Company funds was appropriate and authorized. See “Audit Committee Investigation” below. Following the completion of such investigation, the Audit Committee met on June 21, 2019 and voted unanimously to recommend to the Board to reaffirm its termination of Mr. Veltri for cause by ratifying its prior actions at the Board meeting on February 25, 2019. The Board, which following the issuance of the Second Order was reconstituted with all five members as required by the Company’s bylaws and the Second Order, met on August 5, 2019 and received a report from the Audit Committee. Following such report, the Board approved and ratified the termination of Mr. Veltri as President and Chief Executive Officer for cause.

 

On September 18, 2019, APEG II filed a motion for voluntary dismissal with the Colorado Federal Court seeking to dismissMay 20, 2020, the Colorado Litigation to discharge Randel Lewis as Custodian and interim Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company, and reimbursement of its expenses and attorneys’ fees that it incurred in connection with the Colorado Litigation. In its motion for dismissal, APEG II stated that its claims (i) to request a declaratory judgment that Mr. Veltri was validly terminated as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company by the Board of Directors on February 25, 2019 and (ii) to request an injunction enjoining Mr. Veltri from acting as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company have both been addressed and are now moot. On October 16, 2019, Mr. Veltri filed a response to the motion for dismissal. In his response, Mr. Veltri argued that APEG II’s motion for dismissal should be denied by the Colorado Federal Court because (i) the Company should continue to operate under the guidance of the independent Custodian pending the outcome of a trial on the merits of the action, (ii) until the Custodian provides the Company with all of the relief set forth in the Second Order, the claims in the Colorado Litigation are not moot and the action should not be dismissed, (iii) the other Company shareholders’ interests will otherwise be negatively impacted if the Custodian is prematurely dismissed as the Company would be left without a Chief Executive Officer to run the Company’s business, the Board of Directors would again become a four-member Board of Directors subject to deadlock, and there would be no one to ensure the annual meeting of shareholders occurs, and (iv) APEG II should not be entitled to any attorneys’ fees. On October 29, 2019, APEG II filed a reply in support of its motion for dismissal, in which APEG II reasserted its position that its claims have been rendered moot as a result of actions taken by the Company in response to APEG’s claims. APEG modified its request that the Custodian be discharged immediately and agreed to delay its request to discharge the Custodian until the Company’s shareholders elect a director to replace the Custodian and the Board selects a Chief Executive Officer to replace the Custodian as interim Chief Executive Order. As of November 12, 2019, the Colorado Federal Court had not yet ruled on APEG II’s motion for dismissal.

Both the Texas Litigation and the Colorado Litigation remain pending.

Audit Committee Investigationdismissed.

 

Following the termination of the Company’s former Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board on February 25, 2019, the Company’s independent auditors, Plante & Moran PLLC, informed the Audit Committee that the auditors had found at least one instance of irregularities in the submission and payment of expense reports with respect to the former Chief Executive Officer. The Company’s Audit Committee engaged independent legal counsel, which engaged an independent accounting firm to conduct a forensic accounting investigation of the Company’s expense reporting system in relation to issues raised by the Company’s independent auditors regarding potential financial improprieties related to expense reports, including examining expense reports and third-party expenditures made by or through the former Chief Executive Officer or his staff. The investigation was expanded into a forensic investigation of the integrity of the Company’s computer-based record keeping after Mr. Veltri and Mr. Hoffman managed to reset the security codes to give them complete control of the Company’s books and records temporarily and exclude our other officers and directors from accessing those records during that period, which further raised concerns with respect to material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. The scope of the forensic accounting and investigation covered the period from January 1, 2017 through March 31, 2019. The Company’s Audit Committee has taken certain steps in response to the forensic accounting investigation. SeePart I, Item 4. Controls and Procedures—Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting—Management’s Remediation Plan.

The forensic accounting investigation was completed on June 13, 2019 and resulted in the finding of a number of irregularities and reimbursements for personal expenses or expenses that were unrelated to furthering the Company’s business. An expense report was submitted in October 2018 that included $1,537 for the registration of a vehicle owned by an affiliated entity of Mr. Hoffman, as well as insurance premiums for the vehicle totaling $813. Mr. Hoffman repaid the Company in full for such amounts in connection with his resignation and settlement agreement with the Company in May 2019. It is possible that these payments by the Company on behalf of Mr. Hoffman could be deemed to be in violation of Section 402 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. However, the Company has not made a determination as of the date hereof if such payments resulted in a violation of that provision.   If, however, it is determined these payments violated the prohibitions of Section 402, the Company could be subject to investigation and/or litigation that could involve significant time and costs and may not be resolved favorably. The Company is unable to predict the extent of its ultimate liability with respect to these payments. The costs and other effects of any future litigation, government investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings, settlements, judgments and investigations, claims and changes in this matter could have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition and operating results.

In addition, the investigation found that the former Chief Executive Officer, David Veltri, had expense reports that consistently lacked detailed receipts and descriptions of the business purpose of each expense. The expense reimbursements did not go through a review process or require Board approval or approval from any other employee, as the Company did not have in place any expense report policy or other process for pre-approving expenses prior to incurring such expense. Mr. Veltri was the sole signatory on the Company’s bank accounts and effectively had sole authority to approve his own expense reports when he provided reimbursement checks to himself and controlled all funds of the Company.

The forensic accounting investigation and the Company’s internal investigation also identified numerous expense items on Mr. Veltri’s expense reports that appeared to be personal in nature, or lacked adequate documentation showing that such expense was for legitimate business purposes. These expense items totaled at least $81,014, of which $32,194 was incurred during the year ended December 31, 2017, $34,203 was incurred during the year ended December 31, 2018 and $14,617 was incurred during 2019 prior to Mr. Veltri’s termination. The Company has reclassified the entire $81,014 reimbursed to Mr. Veltri as additional compensation and taxable income. In addition, the Company has accrued payroll taxes payable on the additional compensation, however, the Company has not accrued penalties and interest that may be assessed because the amount of such penalties and interest cannot be reasonably determined.

The report also indicated that Mr. Veltri used the Company’s vendors for his own personal benefit. Mr. Veltri bypassed the Company’s accounts payable process by paying third-party vendors personally through expense reports and then approved his own expense reports, which limited the visibility of the payments and review by the Company’s accounting personnel. Mr. Veltri personally obtained reimbursements for several charges incurred by a consultant hired by the Company, which consultant potentially had a conflict of interest with the Company. The reimbursements totaled $2,710, and such reimbursements were highly unusual since the consultant included its expenses directly on its own invoices. The independent accounting firm conducting the forensic accounting investigation called into question other payments made to the consultant because of the vagueness of the work descriptions and project details provided by the consultant, and the independent accounting firm questioned Mr. Veltri’s judgment and the legitimacy of the services provided by the consultant for which the Company paid a total of $38,774. The forensic investigation revealed that Mr. Veltri may have made personal loans to the owners of the consulting firm, which indicates that a conflict of interest existed between Mr. Veltri’s personal interests and the Company’s best interests.

Mr. Veltri also incurred $47,156 in third-party professional fees in connection with a potential transaction with a company controlled by a former Board member, which transaction and related expenses in evaluating the potential transaction were not approved by the Board. The professional fees when incurred were treated as unevaluated prospect cost and included in unproved oil and gas properties. At December 31, 2018, the total amount of the fees was impaired and transferred to the full cost pool.

Mr. Veltri also entered into an agreement to acquire some oil and natural gas properties for which the Board authorized $250,000, which amount was fully refundable, subject to the funds being held in escrow pending the closing of the acquisition. Mr. Veltri wired the funds directly into the seller’s account, rather than escrowing such funds, and also paid the seller an additional amount of $124,328, which amount was not authorized by the Board, as well as $40,578 for professional services. The transaction never closed. The Company is currently seeking a refund of such funds from the seller, who as of November 12, 2019 has made two partial payments totaling $100,000. While the Company is pursuing collection of the deposit, the Company has established an allowance for the remaining $274,328 due from the seller due to the uncertainty of collection of the deposit. SeeNote 7-Write-off of Deposit.

Additionally, from time to time, the Company is party to certain legal actions and claims arising in the ordinary course of business. While the outcome of these events cannot be predicted with certainty, management does not expect these matters to have a materially adverse effect on the Company’s financial position or results of operations.

9.10. PREFERRED STOCK

 

The Company’s articles of incorporation authorize the issuance of up to 100,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.01 par value. Shares of preferred stock may be issued with such dividend, liquidation, voting and conversion features as may be determined by the Board of Directors without shareholder approval. The Company is authorized to issuehas designated 50,000 shares of Series P preferred stock in connection with a shareholder rights plan that expired in 2011, and no shares of Series P preferred stockwhich none are outstanding.

 

On February 12, 2016, the Company issued 50,000 shares of then newly designated Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Series A Preferred“Preferred Stock”) to Mt. Emmons Mining Company (“MEM”), a subsidiary of Freeport McMoRan, pursuant to that certain Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Series A Purchase Agreement”). The Series A Preferred Stock was issued in connection with the disposition of the Company’s mining segment, whereby MEM acquired the property and replaced the Company as permittee and operator of a water treatment plant (the “Acquisition Agreement”). The Series A Preferred Stock was issued at a value of $40 per share for an aggregate $2.0of $2 million. The Series A Preferred Stock liquidation preference, initially $2.0$2 million, increases by quarterly dividends of 12.25% per annum (the “Adjusted Liquidation Preference”). At the option of the holder, each share of Series A Preferred Stock may initially be converted into 13.331.33 shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Conversion Rate”) for an aggregate of 666,66766,667 shares. The Conversion Rate is subject to anti-dilution adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends and certain reorganization events and to price-based anti-dilution protections. At September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 2018,2019, the aggregate number of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock was 793,349is 79,334 shares, which is the maximum number of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion.

The Series A Preferred Stock is senior to other classes or series of shares of the Company with respect to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation. No dividend or distribution will be declared or paid on junior stock, including the Company’s common stock, (1) unless approved by the holders of Series A Preferred Stock and (2) unless and until a like dividend has been declared and paid on the Series A Preferred Stock on an as-converted basis. The Series A Preferred Stock does not vote with the Company’s common stock on an as-converted basis on matters put before the Company’s shareholders. However, the holders of the Series A Preferred Stock have the right to approve specified matters as set forth in the certificate of designation and have the right to require the Company to repurchase the Series A Preferred Stock in connection withthe event of a change of control.control, which has not been triggered as of September 30, 2020. Concurrent with entry into the Acquisition Agreement and the Series A Purchase Agreement, the Company and MEM entered into an Investor Rights Agreement, which provides MEM rights to certain information and Board observer rights. MEM has agreed that it, along with its affiliates, will not acquire more than 16.86% of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock. In addition, MEM has the right to demand registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, of the shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the Series A Preferred Stock.

10.11. SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

At-the-Market Offering

In January 2018, the Company entered into a common stock sales agreement with a financial institution pursuant to which the Company could offer and sell, through the sales agent, common stock representing an aggregate offering price of up to $2.5 million through an at-the-market continuous offering program. During the nine months ended September 30, 2018, the Company issued 1,288,537 shares of common stock at an average price of $1.41 for total net proceeds before offering expenses of approximately $1,817 thousand. Offering expenses, including broker fees and legal costs related to the at-the-market offering totaled $151 thousand. In January 2019, the Company terminated the at-the-market offering.

 

Warrants

 

In December 2016, the Company completed a registered direct offering of 1,000,000100,000 shares of common stock at a net gross price of $1.50$15.00 per share. Concurrently, the investors received warrants to purchase 1,000,000100,000 shares of common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $2.05$20.05 per share, subject to adjustment, for a period of five years from closing.the final closing date of June 21, 2017. The warrants include anti-dilution rights. The total net proceeds received by the Company were approximately $1.32 million. The fair value of the warrants upon issuance was $1.24 million, with the remaining $80 thousand$0.08 million being attributed to common stock. On September 29, 2020, the Company received proceeds of $565 thousand related to the exercise of warrants to purchase 50,000 shares of common stock. The warrants have been classified as liabilities due to features in the warrant agreement that give the warrant holder an option to require the Company to redeem the warrant at a calculated fair value in the event of a “Fundamental Transaction,” as defined in the warrant agreement. The fair value of the warrants was $206$137 thousand and $425$73 thousand at September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 2018,2019, respectively

 

Pursuant to the original warrant agreement, the warrant exercise price was reduced from $2.05 to $1.13 per share as a result of common stock issuances made during the three-month periodyear ended MarchDecember 31, 2018.2018, the warrant exercise price was reduced from $20.50 to $11.30 per share. The warrant exercise price was further reduced to $5.25 as a result of the registered direct offering of 315,810 shares of common stock which was completed on October 2, 2020 (See Note 16 Subsequent Events).

 

Stock Options

 

From time to time, the Company may grant stock options under its incentive plan covering shares of common stock to employees of the Company. Stock options, when exercised, are settled through the payment of the exercise price in exchange for new shares of stock underlying the option. These awards typically expire ten years from the grant date.

 

For both the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, totalTotal stock-based compensation expense related to stock options was $39 thousand. As of September 30, 2019, there was $6$0 and $26 thousand of unrecognized expense related to unvested stock options, which will be recognized as stock-based compensation expense through November 2019. Forfor the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As of September 30, 2020, all stock options had vested. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, no stock options were granted, exercised, or expired. As the result of an employee termination during the period, 5,000 unvested stock options were forfeited. ForDuring the nine months ended September 30, 2018, no2020 stock options were granted, exercised or forfeited, however, 69,225 stock options expired during the period.to purchase 166 shares expired. Presented below is information about stock options outstanding and exercisable as of September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 2018:2019. All shares and prices per share have been adjusted for the Reverse Stock Split.

 

  September 30, 2019  December 31, 2018 
  Shares  Price(1)  Shares  Price(1) 
             
Stock options outstanding  315,462  $6.61   320,462  $6.52 
                 
Stock options exercisable  265,462  $7.63   265,462  $7.63 

(1)Represents the weighted average price.
  September 30, 2020  December 31, 2019 
  Shares  Price  Shares  Price 
             
Stock options outstanding  31,367  $64.78   31,533  $66.04 
                 
Stock options exercisable  31,367  $64.78   31,533  $66.04 

The following table summarizes information for stock options outstanding and for stock options exercisable at September 30, 2019:2020:

 

Options OutstandingOptions Outstanding Options Exercisable Options Outstanding  Options Exercisable 
  Exercise Price           Exercise Price  Weighted  Remaining     Weighted 

Number of
Shares

  Low High Weighted Average  

Remaining

Contractual Term (years)

 

Number of
Shares

 

Weighted Average

Exercise
Price

 
Number ofNumber of  Range  

Average

Exercise

 

Contractual

Term

  Number of  

Average

Exercise

 
SharesShares  Low  High  Price  (years)  Shares  Price 
                           
165,000  $0.72  $1.16  $1.00   8.0   115,000  $0.93 16,500  $7.03  $11.60  $10.00   7.3   16,500  $10.00 
106,290   9.00   12.48   10.62   4.6   106,290   10.62 10,622   90.00   124.80   106.20   3.6   10,622   106.20 
29,171   13.92   17.10   14.74   2.7   29,171   14.74 2,913   139.20   171.00   147.39   1.7   2,913   147.39 
15,001   22.62   30.24   24.03   3.8   15,001   24.03 1,332   226.20   251.40   232.48   3.2   1,332   232.48 
315,462  $0.72  $30.24  $6.61   6.2   265,462  $7.63                           
31,367  $7.20  $251.40  $64.78   5.2   31,367  $64.78 

 

In May 2018,January 2020, the Company granted 48,000 restricted shares to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, of which 24,000 shares vest after one year and 24,000 vest after two years. In addition, the Company granted a total of 28,000 restricted shares to members of the Board, which vest on January 28, 2021. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the Company recognized stock-based$170 thousand in stock compensation expense of $583 thousand related to 485,168 unrestricted shares of commonthese restricted stock granted to employees. As ofgrants. At September 30, 2019, there was no2020, the unrecognized expense related to commonthe restricted stock grants.grants was $202 thousand.

 

11.12. ASSET RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS

 

The Company has asset retirement obligations (“ARO”AROs”) associated with the future plugging and abandonment of proved properties. Initially, the fair value of a liability for an ARO is recorded in the period in which the ARO is incurred with a corresponding increase in the carrying amount of the related asset. The liability is accreted to its present value each period and the capitalized cost is depleted over the life of the related asset. If the liability is settled for an amount other than the recorded amount, an adjustment to the full-cost pool is recognized. The Company had no assets that are restricted for the purpose of settling AROs.

 

In the fair value calculation for the ARO there are numerous assumptions and judgments, including the ultimate retirement cost, inflation factors, credit-adjusted risk-free discount rates, timing of retirement and changes in legal, regulatory, environmental, and political environments. To the extent future revisions to assumptions and judgments impact the present value of the existing ARO, a corresponding adjustment is made to the oil and natural gas property balance. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, there was an adjustment to the credit adjusted risk free rate used to discount the ARO for a well completed in December 2018. The adjustment decreased the ARO liability and the amount capitalized by $14 thousand.

The following is a reconciliation of the changes in the Company’s liabilities for asset retirement obligations during the nine months endedas of September 30, 20192020 and the year ended December 31, 2018:2019:

 

 Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2019
  

Year

Ended
December 31, 2018

  

Nine Months Ended

September 30, 2020

 

Year Ended

December 31, 2019

 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Balance, beginning of year $939  $913  $819  $939 
Accretion  17   25   23   22 
Sold/Plugged      (18)  (12)  (130)
New drilled wells  2   19   -   2 
Change in discount rate  (14)  -   -   (14)
Liabilities incurred      - 
Liabilities incurred for acquisition of New Horizon wells  163   - 
Liabilities incurred for acquisition of FieldPoint wells  236   - 
Balance, end of period $944  $939  $1,229  $819 

12.13. INCOME TAXES

 

The Company estimated the applicable effective tax rate expected for the full fiscal year. The Company’s effective tax rate used to estimate income taxes on a current year-to-date basis is 0% for both the three and nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018.2019.

 

In December 2017, the Company paid down debt through the issuance of common stock. This issuance represented a 49.3% ownership change in the Company. SeeNote 6-Debt.7-Debt. This change in ownership, combined with other equity events, triggered loss limitations under Internal Revenue Code (“I.R.C.”) Section 382. As a result, the Company wrote-off $29.8a total of $32.2 million of gross deferred tax assets in 2017, and an additional $2.4 million in gross deferred tax assets inthrough December 31, 2018. Since the Company maintains a valuation allowance against these tax assets, there iswas no impact to the condensed consolidated statements of operations in either the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019 or 2018.operations.

 

Deferred tax assets (“DTAs”) are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities and for operating losses and tax credit carry forwards.carryforwards. We review our DTAs and valuation allowance on a quarterly basis. As part of our review, we consider positive and negative evidence, including cumulative results in recent years. Consistent with the position at December 31, 2018,2019, the Company maintains a full valuation allowance recorded against all DTAs. The Company, therefore, had no recorded DTAs as of September 30, 2019.2020. We anticipate that we will continue to record a valuation allowance against our DTAs in all jurisdictions of the Company until such time as we are able to determine that it is “more-likely-than-not” that those DTAs will be realized.

 

The Company recognizes, measures, and discloses uncertain tax positions whereby tax positions must meet a “more-likely-than-not” threshold to be recognized. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018,2019, no adjustments were recognized for uncertain tax positions.

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into U.S. federal law the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which is aimed at providing emergency assistance and health care for individuals, families, and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and generally supporting the U.S. economy. The CARES Act, among other things, includes provisions relating to refundable payroll tax credits, deferment of employer side social security payments, net operating loss (“NOL”) carryback periods, alternative minimum tax (“AMT”) credit refunds, modifications to the net interest deduction limitations and technical corrections to tax depreciation methods for qualified improvement property. In particular, the CARES Act (i) eliminates the 80% of taxable income limitation by allowing corporate entities to fully utilize NOLs to offset taxable income in 2018, 2019 or 2020, (ii) increases the net interest expense deduction limit to 50% of adjusted taxable income from 30% for tax years beginning January 1, 2019 and 2020 and (iv) allows taxpayers with AMT credits to claim a refund in 2020 for the entire amount of the credit instead of recovering the credit through refunds over a period of years, as originally enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Company is in the process of analyzing the different aspects of the CARES Act to quantify the impact of these provisions on the Company’s income taxes but expects that there will be no material impact from the CARES Act to the Company’s tax position.

 

13.14. EARNINGS (LOSS) PER SHARE

 

Basic net earnings (loss)loss per common share is calculated by dividing net earnings (loss)loss attributable to common shareholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding for the respective period. Diluted net earnings (loss)loss per common share is calculated by dividing adjusted net earnings (loss)loss by the diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding, which includes the effect of potentially dilutive securities. Potentially dilutive securities for this calculation consist of stock options and warrants, which are measured using the treasury stock method, and the conversion feature of the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock.Stock, and unvested shares of restricted common stock. When the Company recognizes a net loss attributable to common shareholders, as was the case for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 20192020 and the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018,2019, all potentially dilutive shares are anti-dilutive and are consequently excluded from the calculation of dilutive net loss per common share.

The following table sets forth the calculation of basic and diluted net loss per share.

 

  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
  2019  2018  2019  2018 
  (in thousands except per share data) 
Net income (loss) $(281) $467  $(246) $(950)
Accrued dividend on Series A preferred stock  (95)  (84)  (273)  (242)
Loss applicable to common shareholders $(376) $383  $(519) $(1,192)
Basic weighted average common shares outstanding  13,406   13,235   13,406   12,697 
Dilutive effect of potentially dilutive securities  -   20   -   - 
Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding  13,406   13,255   13,406   12,697 
                 
Basic net loss per share $(0.03) $0.03  $(0.04) $(0.09)
Diluted net loss per share $(0.03) $0.03  $(0.04) $(0.09)

  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
  2020  2019  2020  2019 
  (in thousands except per share data) 
Net loss $(1,713) $(281) $(5,670) $(246)
Accrued dividend on Series A preferred stock  (107)  (95)  (310)  (273)
Loss applicable to common shareholders $(1,820) $(376) $(5,980) $(519)
Basic weighted average common shares outstanding  1,400   1,341   1,387   1,341 
Dilutive effect of potentially dilutive securities  -   -   -   - 
Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding  1,400   1,341   1,387   1,341 
                 
Basic net loss per share $(1.30) $(0.28) $(4.31) $(0.39)
Diluted net loss per share $(1.30) $(0.28) $(4.31) $(0.39)

The following table presents the weighted-average common share equivalents excluded from the calculation of diluted earningsloss per share due to their anti-dilutive effect:

 

 Three Months Ended
September 30,
 Nine Months Ended
September 30,
  Three Months Ended
September 30,
  Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
 2019 2018 2019 2018  2020  2019  2020  2019 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Stock options  318   300   320   320   32   32   32   32 
Outstanding warrants  1,000   1,000   1,000   1,000 
Series A convertible preferred stock  793   793   793   793 
Restricted stock  76   -   69   - 
Warrants  100   100   100   100 
Series A preferred stock  79   79   79   79 
Total  2,111   2,093   2,113   2,113   287   211   280   211 

 

14. SIGNIFICANT CONCENTRATIONS

The Company has exposure to credit risk in the event of nonpayment by joint interest operators of the Company’s oil and natural gas properties. During the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, the joint interest operators that accounted for 10% or more of the Company’s total oil and natural gas revenue for at least one of the periods presented are as follows:

Operator 2019  2018 
       
A  54%  17%
B  29%  50%
C  8%  13%

15. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS

 

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. In determiningThe Company’s fair value the Company uses various methods including market, income and cost approaches. Based on these approaches, the Company often utilizes certain assumptionsmeasurements are estimated pursuant to a fair value hierarchy that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability, including assumptions about risk and the risks inherent in the inputsrequires us to the valuation technique. These inputs can be readily observable, market corroborated, or generally unobservable inputs. The Company utilizes valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. Based oninputs when measuring fair value. The valuation hierarchy is based upon the observabilitytransparency of inputs to the valuation of an asset or liability as of the measurement date, giving highest priority to quoted prices in active markets (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable data (Level 3). In some cases, the inputs used to measure fair value might fall in the valuation techniques the Company is required to provide the following information according todifferent levels of the fair value hierarchy. The lowest level input that is significant to a fair value hierarchy ranksmeasurement in its entirety determines the qualityapplicable level in the fair value hierarchy. Assessing the significance of a particular input to the fair value measurement in its entirety requires judgment, considering factors specific to the asset or liability, and reliabilitymay affect the valuation of the information used to determine fair values. Financial assets and liabilities carried atand their placement within the hierarchy level. The three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value will be classified and disclosed in one of the following three categories:are defined as:

 

Level 1 - Quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities traded in active exchange markets, such as the New York Stock Exchange.markets.

 

Level 2 - Observable inputs other than Level 1 that are directly or indirectly observable for the asset or liability, including quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices in less activefor identical or similar assets or liabilities inactive markets, or other observable inputs that can be corroborated by observable market data. Level 2 also includes derivative contracts whose value is determined using a pricing model with observable market inputs or can be derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.

 

Level 3 - Unobservable inputs supported by little or no market activity for financial instruments whose value is determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, as well as instruments for which the determination of fair value requires significant management judgment or estimation; also includes observable inputs for nonbinding single dealer quotes not corroborated by observable market data.

The Company has processes and controls in place to attempt to ensure that fair value is reasonably estimated. The Company performs due diligence procedures over third-party pricing service providers in order to support their use in the valuation process. Where market information is not available to support internal valuations, independent reviews of the valuations are performed and any material exposures are evaluated through a management review process.

While the Company believes its valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies or assumptions to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different estimate of fair value at the reporting date. The Company has not changed its methodology of determining fair values. The following is a description of the valuation methodologies used for complex financial instruments measured at fair value:

estimation.

Warrant Valuation Methodologies

 

The warrants contain a dilutive issuance and other provisions that cause the warrants to be accounted for as a liability. Such warrant instruments are initially recorded and valued as a Level 3 liability and are accounted for at fair value with changes in fair value reported in earnings. There were no changes in the methodology to value the warrants. The Company worked with a third-party valuation expert to estimate the value of the warrants at September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 20182019 using a Lattice model, with the following assumptions:observable and unobservable inputs:

 

 September 30, 2019  

December 31, 2018

  September 30, 2020  December 31, 2019 
      
Number of warrants outstanding  1,000,000   1,000,000   50,000   100,000 
Expiration date  June 21, 2022   June 21, 2022   June 21, 2022   June 21, 2022 
Exercise price $1.13  $1.13  $5.25  $11.30 
Stock price $0.51  $0.67 
Beginning share price $5.00  $3.00 
Dividend yield  0%  0%  0%  0%
Average volatility rate(1)  85%  90%  115%  80%
Probability of down-round event (2)  50%  25%
Risk free interest rate  1.59%  2.47%  0.13%  1.59%

(1)The average volatility represents the Company’s 2-year volatility measurement, the observed volatility of our peer group over a similar period, and the stock market volatility as of the valuation date.
(2)Represents the estimated probability of a future down-round event during the remaining term of the warrants.

 

At September 30, 2020, the Company used the average value calculated by the Lattice model of $137 thousand with a range from $135 thousand to $ 143 thousand. At December 31, 2019, the Company used the average value of $73 thousand with a range from $60 thousand to $120 thousand. An increase in any of the variablesinputs would cause an increase in the fair value of the warrants. Likewise, a decrease in any variableinput would cause a decrease in the value of the warrants. At September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, the fair value of the warrants was $206 thousand and $425 thousand, respectively.warrants.

Marketable Equity Securities Valuation Methodologies

 

The fair value of marketable equity securities is based on quoted market prices obtained from independent pricing services. The Company has investmentsacquired its investment in the marketable equity securities of Anfield ResourcesEnergy, Inc. (“Anfield”) and Sutter Gold Mining Company (“Sutter”).as consideration for sales of certain mining operations. Anfield is traded inon the TSX Venture Exchange, an active market under the trading symbol AEC:TSXV and has been classified as Level 1, while Sutter is traded1. On July 22, 2020, the Company entered into a share purchase agreement to sell 1,210,455 common shares of the Company’s holdings in a less active market and accordingly has been classified as Level 2.Anfield for approximately $45 thousand. Following the sale, the Company owns 2,420,910 shares in Anfield.

 

Other Financial InstrumentsAssets and Liabilities

 

The carrying amountCompany evaluates the fair value on a non-recurring basis of cash and equivalents,properties acquired in business combinations. The fair value of the oil and gas properties is determined based upon estimated future discounted cash flow, a Level 3 input, using estimated production which we reasonably expect, and estimated prices adjusted for differentials. Unobservable inputs include estimated future oil and natural gas production, prices, operating and development costs, and a discount rate of 10%, all Level 3 inputs within the fair value hierarchy.

The Company evaluates the fair value on a non-recurring basis of its Riverton, Wyoming real estate assets when circumstances indicate that the value has been impaired. The change in the economic environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the property’s remote location has caused a lack of relevant comparable sales receivable, otherto use as a basis for estimating fair value. At June 30, 2020, the Company estimated the fair value of the real estate based upon the expected annual net operating income of the building, estimated capitalization rates for properties in rural areas and values for vacant land based on comparable sales, all Level 3 inputs within the fair value hierarchy.

The carrying value of financial instruments included in current assets accounts payable and accrued expensescurrent liabilities approximate fair value because ofdue to the short-term nature of those instruments. The recorded amounts for the credit facility discussed inNote 6—Debt, and which the Company repaid in full on March 1, 2019 and subsequently matured on July 30, 2019, approximates the fair market value due to the variable nature  of the interest rates, and the fact that market interest rates have remained substantially the same since the last amendment to the credit facility.

Recurring Fair Value Measurements

 

Recurring measurements of the fair value of assets and liabilities as of September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 20182019 are as follows:

 

 September 30, 2019 December 31, 2018  September 30, 2020  December 31, 2019 
 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3  Total  Level 1  Level 2  Level 3  Total 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Assets:                 
Current Assets:                                
Marketable Equity Securities $302  $-  $-  $302  $533  $3  $-  $536  $109  $-  $-  $109  $307  $-  $-  $307 
                                                                
Liabilities:                                
Non-current Liabilities:                                
Warrants $-  $-  $206  $206  $-  $-  $425  $425  $-  $-  $137  $137  $-  $-  $73  $73 

 

The following table presents a reconciliation of our Level 3 warrants measured at fair value

 

  Nine Months Ended
September 30, 2019
  

Year Ended
December 31, 2018

 
  (in thousands) 
Fair value liabilities of Level 3 instruments- beginning of period $425  $1,200 
         
Net gain on warrant valuation  (219)  (775)
   -     
 Fair value liabilities of Level 3 instruments- end of period $206  $425 
  Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020  Year Ended December 31, 2019 
  (in thousands) 
Fair value liabilities of Level 3 instruments beginning of period $73  $425 
         
Net loss (gain) on warrant valuation  64   (352)
   -     
Fair value liabilities of Level 3 instruments end of period $137  $73 

 

16. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

 

APEG IIRegistered Direct Offering

On October 2, 2020, we closed a registered direct offering of 315,810 shares of our common stock, at $5.25 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $1,658,000, before deducting the placement agent fees and related offering expenses. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $1,523,500. The Offering was the secured lender under the Company’s credit facility and is involved in litigation withresult of a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) the Company as described inNote 8Commitments, Contingencieshad entered into on September 30, 2020 with certain institutional investors (the “Purchasers”) The Purchase Agreement contains customary representations and Related-Party Transactions. As described above, the costs associated with the ongoing litigation have been a significant usewarranties and agreements of the Company’s existing cash. WhileCompany and the Purchasers, and customary indemnification rights and obligations of the parties. Until the twelve month anniversary of the closing of the Offering, the Company has historically funded all litigation costs outis required to offer each of operating cash flow, continued excessive legal fees associated with litigation could impair the Company’s liquidity profile and abilityPurchasers the right to fund significant drilling obligations.

On December 19, 2018,participate in an amount up to 50% of any subsequent financing transaction undertaken by the Company received a notification letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that for 30 consecutive business daysat the Company’s common stock did not maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share as required by Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). Consistent with this rule, Nasdaq initially provided the Company with a compliance period of 180 days, or until June 17, 2019, to regain compliance with this rule. To regain compliance with this rule, the closing bidoffering price of the common stock must meet or exceed $1.00 per share for at least ten consecutive business days during this 180-day period. On June 19, 2019, Nasdaq notifiedsubsequent financing transaction. Additionally, each of the officers and directors of the Company that, althoughpursuant to lock-up agreements agreed not to sell or transfer any of the Company had not regained compliance with the minimum $1.00 closing bid price per share requirement, Nasdaq has determined that the Company was eligible for an additional 180-day period, or until December 16, 2019,securities which they hold, subject to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. The second 180-day period relates exclusively to the $1.00 closing bid price deficiency, and the Company’s common stock may be delisted from Nasdaqcertain exceptions, during the 180-day period for failure to maintain compliance with any other Nasdaq listing requirements for whichfollowing the Company is currently on notice or which occurs during the 180-day period.

On April 17, 2019, the Company received a letter from Nasdaq notifying the Company that the Company also was not in compliance with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing as a resultclosing of the Company’s failure to timely file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. Pursuant to the notice, the Company was required to submit to Nasdaq a plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s requirements for continued listing within 60 calendar days of the date of the notice (by June 17, 2019). On May 21, 2019, the Company received another notice from Nasdaq notifying the Company that it was not in compliance with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing on Nasdaq as a result of the delay in filing its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019, and Nasdaq accelerated the date to submit the Company’s plan to meet Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements to May 23, 2019, which it complied with. On August 16, 2019, Nasdaq again notified the Company that it was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing due to the delay in filing the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2019. Previously, Nasdaq had granted the Company an exception until September 16, 2019 to file its delinquent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, which the Company complied with, and until October 14, 2019 to file its delinquent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2019. Pursuant to the August 16, 2019 notice, Nasdaq also granted the Company an exception to Rule 5250(c)(1) for its failure to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2019 until October 14, 2019, subject to the Company updating its plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s filing requirements. On September 3, 2019, the Company submitted to Nasdaq an update to its plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s filing requirements for continued listing for the Nasdaq staff to review and consider. On October 15, 2019, the first business day after October 14, 2019, which was a federal holiday, the Company filed its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019. On October 16, 2019, Nasdaq provided notice to the Company that as a result of the filing of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K on September 16, 2019 and the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q on October 15, 2019, the Company was in compliance with Rule 5250(c)(1).Offering.

On May 9, 2019, the Company received a letter from Nasdaq notifying it that it was not in compliance with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(c)(2) for continued listing on Nasdaq as a result of our audit committee being comprised of fewer than three independent directors. It is the position of the audit committee that it was comprised of three independent directors prior to May 9, 2019, and that any action taken to remove two of the members of the audit committee was invalid. Subsequent to May 9, 2019, one of the Company’s directors resigned from the Board and from the audit committee. On June 14, 2019, Nasdaq notified the Company that as a result of the appointment of Catherine Boggs to its Board of Directors and audit committee, Nasdaq determined that the Company was in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(c)(2).

 

2423
 

Acquisition of Newbridge Properties

On November 9, 2020, the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary New Horizon entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement (“PSA”) to acquire certain assets from Newbridge Resources LLC (“Newbridge”). The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2020. The assets include acreage and operated producing properties in Liberty County, Texas (the “Newbridge Properties”). The Newbridge Properties also consist of approximately 680 net acres located primarily in Liberty County, Texas which are 100% held by production, and which average a 100% working interest and 86% net revenue interest. The consideration payable by the Company for the Newbridge Properties will consist of $250,000 in shares of U.S. Energy restricted common stock (the “Newbridge Acquisition” and the “Purchase Price”). The number of shares issuable will equal the Purchase Price divided by the lesser (i.e., the calculation which results in the greatest number of shares) of (a) the closing sales price of the Company’s common stock as traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market on the day prior to the closing; and (b) the volume weighted average price of the Company’s common stock, as traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market, for the 15 trading days immediately prior to the closing date of the PSA. The effective date of the Acquisition will be November 1, 2020.

Underwritten Offering

On November 16, 2020, we closed an underwritten offering of an aggregate of 1,150,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $3.00 per share. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering, after deducting the underwriting discount, the underwriters’ fees and expenses and our estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $3.0 million. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, capital expenditures, working capital, and potential acquisitions of oil and gas properties.

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

Forward Looking Statements

 

This Form 10-Q contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical facts included in and incorporated by reference into this Form 10-Q are forward-looking statements. When used in this Form 10-Q, the words “will”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “plan”, “believe”, “seek”, “estimate” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements in this Form 10-Q include statements regarding our expected future revenue, income, production, liquidity, cash flows, reclamation and other liabilities, expenses and capital projects, future capital expenditures and future transactions. Because these forward-lookingForward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and uncertainties, actualother factors that may cause our results, could differlevels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from thosethe information expressed or implied by thesethe forward-looking statements due to a variety ofin this Report. These factors includinginclude those associated with our ability to find oil and natural gas reserves that are economically recoverable, the volatility of oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas prices, declines in the values of our properties that have resulted in and may in the future result in additional ceiling test write downs, our ability to replace reserves and sustain production, our estimate of the sufficiency of our existing capital sources, our ability to raise additional capital to fund cash requirements for our participation in oil and gas properties and for future acquisitions, the uncertainties involved in estimating quantities of proved oil and natural gas reserves, in prospect development and property acquisitions or dispositions and in projecting future rates of production or future reserves, the timing of development expenditures and drilling of wells, hurricanes and other natural disasters and the operating hazards attendant to the oil and gas and minerals businesses. In particular, careful considerationbusinesses, and the effects of COVID-19, including decreases in the price of oil and gas associated therewith and potential rescissions caused thereby and the governmental actions implemented to stop the spread of such virus.

You should be given toread the matters described and incorporated by reference in “Risk Factors” and the other cautionary statements made in this Report, and incorporated by reference herein, as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this Report. We cannot assure you that the “Risk Factors” sectionforward-looking statements in this Report will prove to be accurate and therefore prospective investors are encouraged not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, even though our situation may change in the future.

This information should be read in conjunction with the interim unaudited financial statements and the notes thereto included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and the audited financial statements and notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” contained in our 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the Securities and other quarterly reportsExchange Commission on March 30, 2020 (the “Annual Report”).

Certain capitalized terms used below and otherwise defined below, have the meanings given to such terms in the footnotes to our consolidated financial statements included above under “Part I - Financial Information” – “Item 1. Financial Statements”.

In this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filedwe may rely on and refer to information regarding the industries in which we operate in general from market research reports, analyst reports and other publicly available information. Although we believe that this information is reliable, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and completeness of this information, and we have not independently verified any of it.

Unless the context requires otherwise, references to the “Company,” “we,” “us,” “our,” “U.S. Energy”, and “U.S. Energy Corp.” refer specifically to U.S. Energy Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries

In addition, unless the context otherwise requires and for the purposes of this report only:

“Bbl” refers to one stock tank barrel, or 42 U.S. gallons liquid volume, used in this report in reference to crude oil or other liquid hydrocarbons;
“BOE” refers to barrels of oil equivalent, determined using the ratio of one Bbl of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids, to six Mcf of natural gas;
“Bopd” refers to barrels of oil day;
“Mcf” refers to a thousand cubic feet of natural gas;
“Mcfe” means 1,000 cubic feet equivalent, determined using the ratio of six Mcf of natural gas to one Bbl of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids
“NGL” refers to natural gas liquids;
“Exchange Act” refers to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended;
“SEC” or the “Commission” refers to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission;
“Securities Act” refers to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended; and
“WTI” means West Texas Intermediate.

Where You Can Find Other Information

We file annual, quarterly, and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC alllike us at http://www.sec.gov (our filings can be found at https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000101594) and on the “Investors – SEC Filings” page of whichour website at https://usnrg.com. Copies of documents filed by us with the SEC are incorporated herein by reference. The Company undertakes no dutyalso available from us without charge, upon oral or written request to update or revise any forward-looking statements.our Secretary, who can be contacted at the address and telephone number set forth on the cover page of this Report.

 

General Overview

 

U.S. Energy Corp. (“U.S. Energy”, the “Company”, “we” or “us”),- is a Wyoming corporation organized in 1966. We are an independent energy company focused on the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas producing properties in the continental United States. Our business activities are currently focused in South Texas, and the Williston Basin in North Dakota.Dakota, Lea County in New Mexico and Converse County in Wyoming.

 

We have historically explored for and produced oil and natural gas through a non-operator business model. As a non-operator, we rely on our operating partners to propose, permit, drill, complete and produce oil and natural gas wells. Before a well is drilled, the operator provides all oil and natural gas interest owners in the designated well the opportunity to participate in the drilling and completion costs and revenues of the well on a pro-rata basis. Our operating partners also produce, transport, market and account for all oil and natural gas production. With recent acquisitions of New Horizon Resources and certain FieldPoint Petroleum wells we now operate a small portion of our production.

26

 

Recent Developments

 

On September 25, 2020, we acquired certain operated and non-operated producing properties primarily located in Lea County, New Mexico and Converse County, Wyoming. The acquired properties consist of select upstream assets of FieldPoint Petroleum Corporation (“FieldPoint”) and were acquired pursuant to FieldPoint’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy process (the “FieldPoint Properties”). The purchase price for the FieldPoint Properties was $500,000, which was paid in cash. We entered into a $375 thousand secured promissory note with APEG Energy II LP, which entity Patrick E. Duke, a director of the Company, has shared voting power and shared investment power over (“APEG II”) (the “Note”). The Note accrues interest at 10% per annum and matures on September 24, 2021. The Note is secured by the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Energy One’s oil and natural gas producing properties. In the event that the Note is repaid prior to the maturity date there is a prepayment penalty of 10% of the principal amount of the Note less accrued interest. At September 30, 2020, APEG II held approximately 40% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.

On October 2, 2020, we closed a registered direct offering of 315,810 shares of our common stock, at $5.25 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $1,658,000, before deducting the placement agent fees and related offering expenses. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $1,523,500. The Offering was the result of a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) the Company had entered into on September 30, 2020 with certain institutional investors (the “Purchasers”) The Purchase Agreement contains customary representations and warranties and agreements of the Company and the Purchasers, and customary indemnification rights and obligations of the parties. Until the twelve month anniversary of the closing of the Offering, the Company is required to offer each of the Purchasers the right to participate in an amount up to 50% of any subsequent financing transaction undertaken by the Company at the offering price of the subsequent financing transaction. Additionally, each of the officers and directors of the Company pursuant to lock-up agreements agreed not to sell or transfer any of the Company securities which they hold, subject to certain exceptions, during the 180-day period following the closing of the Offering.

On November 9, 2020, U.S. Energy Corp., through its wholly-owned subsidiary New Horizon entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement (“PSA”) to acquire certain assets from Newbridge Resources LLC (“Newbridge”). The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2020. The assets include acreage and operated producing properties in Liberty County, Texas (the “Newbridge Properties”). The Newbridge Properties also consist of approximately 680 net acres located primarily in Liberty County, Texas which are 100% held by production, and which average a 100% working interest and 86% net revenue interest. The consideration payable by the Company for the Newbridge Properties will consist of $250,000 in shares of U.S. Energy restricted common stock (the “Acquisition” and the “Purchase Price”). The number of shares issuable will equal the Purchase Price divided by the lesser (i.e., the calculation which results in the greatest number of shares) of (a) the closing sales price of U.S. Energy’s common stock as traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market on the day prior to the closing; and (b) the volume weighted average price of U.S. Energy’s common stock, as traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market, for the 15 trading days immediately prior to the closing date of the PSA (as applicable, the “Newbridge Shares”). The effective date of the Acquisition was November 1, 2020.

On November 16, 2020, we closed an underwritten offering of an aggregate of 1,150,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $3.00 per share. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering, after deducting the underwriting discount, the underwriters’ fees and expenses and our estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $3.0 million. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, capital expenditures, working capital, and potential acquisitions of oil and gas properties.

Audit Committee InvestigationImpacts of COVID-19 Pandemic and Effect on Economic Environment

 

Following the terminationIn early March 2020, there was a global outbreak of our former Chief Executive Officer, PresidentCOVID-19 that has resulted in a drastic decline in global demand of certain mineral and Chairmanenergy products including crude oil. As a result of the Boardlower demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the oversupply of crude oil, spot and future prices of crude oil fell to historic lows during the second quarter of 2020 and remain depressed. Operators in North Dakota’s Williston Basin responded by significantly decreasing drilling and completion activity and shutting in or curtailing production from a significant number of producing wells. Operators decisions on February 25, 2019,these matters are changing rapidly and it is difficult to predict the future effects on the Company’s business. Lower oil and natural gas prices not only decrease our independent auditors, Plante & Moran PLLC, informedrevenues, but an extended decline in oil or gas prices may materially and adversely affect our future business, financial position, cash flows, results of operations, liquidity, ability to finance planned capital expenditures and the Audit Committeeoil and natural gas reserves that we can economically produce.

Additionally, the auditors had found irregularitiesoutbreak of COVID-19 and decreases in commodity prices resulting from oversupply, government-imposed travel restrictions, and other constraints on economic activity have caused a significant decrease in the submissiondemand for oil and paymenthas created disruptions and volatility in the global marketplace for oil and gas beginning in the first quarter of expense reports with respect2020, which negatively affected our results of operations and cash flows. These conditions have persisted throughout the second and third quarters and continue to negatively affect our former Chief Executive Officer. Our Audit Committee engaged independent legal counsel,results of operations and cash flows. While demand and commodity prices have shown signs of recovery, they are not back to pre-pandemic levels, and financial results may continue to be depressed in future quarters. The extent to which subsequently engaged an independent accounting firm to conduct a forensic accounting investigation ofthe COVID-19 pandemic impacts our expense reporting system in relation to issues raised by our auditors regarding potential financial improprieties related to expense reports,business going forward will depend on numerous evolving factors we cannot reliably predict, including examining expense reportsthe duration and third-party expenditures made by or through our former Chief Executive Officer or his staff. The investigation was expanded into a forensic investigation of the integrity of our computer-based record-keeping after Mr. Veltri and Mr. Hoffman managed to reset the security codes to give them complete control of our books and records temporarily and exclude the ability of our other employees, members of management, and other officers and directors to access those records during that period, which further raised concerns with respect to material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. The scope of the forensic accounting investigation covered the period from January 1, 2017 through March 31, 2019. Our Audit Committee has taken certain stepspandemic; governmental, business, and individuals’ actions in response to the forensic accounting investigation. SeePart I, Item 4 Controls and Procedures—Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting—Management’s Remediation Plan.

The forensic accounting investigation was completed on June 13, 2019 and resulted in the finding of a number of irregularities and reimbursements for personal expenses or expenses that were unrelated to furthering the Company’s business. An expense report was submitted in October 2018 that included $1,537 for the registration of a vehicle owned by an affiliated entity of Mr. Hoffman, as well as insurance premiums for the vehicle totaling $813. Mr. Hoffman repaid the Company in full for such amounts in connection with his resignation and settlement agreement with the Company in May 2019. It is possible that these payments by the Company on behalf of Mr. Hoffman could be deemed to be in violation of Section 402 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. However, we have not made a determination as of the date hereof if such payments resulted in a violation of that provision. If, however, it is determined these payments violated the prohibitions of Section 402, we could be subject to investigation and/or litigation that could involve significant time and costs and may not be resolved favorably. We are unable to predict the extent of our ultimate liability with respect to these payments. The costs and other effects of any future litigation, government investigations, legal and administrative cases and proceedings, settlements, judgments and investigations, claims and changes in this matter could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.

In addition, the investigation found that our former Chief Executive Officer, David Veltri, had expense reports that consistently lacked detailed receipts and descriptions of the business purpose of each expense. The expense reimbursements did not go through a review process or require Board approval or approval from any other employee, as we did not have in place any expense report policy or other process for pre-approving expenses prior to incurring such expense. Mr. Veltri was the sole signatory on our bank accounts and effectively had sole authority to approve his own expense reports when he provided reimbursement checks to himself and controlled all funds of the Company.

The forensic accounting investigation and our internal investigation also identified numerous expense items on Mr. Veltri’s expense reports that appeared to be personal in nature, or lacked adequate documentation showing that such expense was for legitimate business purposes. These expense items totaled at least $81,014, of which $32,194 was incurred during the year ended December 31, 2017, $34,203 was incurred during the year ended December 31, 2018 and $14,617 was incurred during 2019 prior to Mr. Veltri’s termination. We have reclassified the entire $81,014 reimbursed to Mr. Veltri as additional compensation and taxable income. In addition, we have accrued payroll taxes payable on the additional compensation, however we have not accrued penalties and interest that may be assessed because the amount of such penalties and interest cannot be reasonably determined.

The report also indicated that Mr. Veltri used the Company’s vendors for his own personal benefit. Mr. Veltri bypassed our accounts payable process by paying third-party vendors personally through expense reports and then approved his own expense reports, which limited the visibility of the payments and review by our accounting personnel. Mr. Veltri personally obtained reimbursements for several charges incurred by a consultant hired by the Company, which consultant potentially had a conflict of interest with the Company. The reimbursements totaled $2,710, and such reimbursements were highly unusual since the consultant included its expenses directly on its own invoices. The independent accounting firm conducting the forensic accounting investigation called into question other payments made to the consultant because of the vagueness of the work descriptions and project details provided by the consultant,pandemic; and the independent accounting firm questioned Mr. Veltri’s judgmentimpact on economic activity including the possibility of recession or financial market instability. These factors may adversely impact the supply and the legitimacy of the services provided by the consultantdemand for which the Company paid a total of $38,774. The forensic investigation revealed that Mr. Veltri may have made personal loans to the owners of the consulting firm, which indicates that a conflict of interest existed between Mr. Veltri’s personal interests and the Company’s best interests. The fees paid to the consultant were initially recorded as unevaluated prospect costs. At December 31, 2018, as a result of the Board deciding not to pursue the prospect, the costs were impaired and transferred into the full cost pool.

Mr. Veltri also incurred $47,156 in third-party professional fees in connection with a potential transaction with a company controlled by a former Board member, which transaction and related expenses in evaluating the potential transaction were not approved by the Board. The professional fees, when incurred, were treated as unevaluated prospect cost and included in unproved oil and gas and our ability to produce and transport oil and gas and perform operations at and on our properties. This uncertainty also affects management’s accounting estimates and assumptions, which could result in greater variability in a variety of areas that depend on these estimates and assumptions, including investments, receivables, and forward-looking guidance.

At December 31, 2018,September 30, 2020, we performed an impairment review resulting in the total amountCompany recording an additional ceiling test write down of $1.1 million due to the effect lower crude oil prices had on the value of its proved reserves. In the calculation of the feesceiling test as of September 30, 2020, the Company used $43.40 per barrel for oil and $1.97 per mcf for natural gas (as further adjusted for differentials related to property, specific gravity, quality, local markets and distance from markets) to compute the future cash flows of the Company’s producing properties. The discount factor used was impaired and transferred to10%. These prices represent the full cost pool.

Mr. Veltri also entered into an agreement to acquire someaverage of first day of the month prices for oil and natural gas properties for whicheach month in the Board authorized $250,000, which amount was fully refundable, subject to the funds being held in escrow pending the closing of the acquisition. Mr. Veltri wired the funds directly into the seller’s account, rather than escrowing such funds, and also paid the seller an additional amount of approximately $124,328, which amount was not authorized by the Board, as well as $40,578twelve-month period ended September 30, 2020. If depressed prices for professional services. The transaction never closed. The Companycrude oil continue, it is currently seeking a refund of such funds from the seller, who as of November 12, 2019 has made two partial payments totaling $100,000. Whilelikely that the Company is pursuing collection of the deposit, the Company has established an allowance for the remaining $274,328 duewill experience additional ceiling test write-downs in 2020 and 2021 as higher prices from the seller due to the uncertainty of collection of the deposit. SeeNote 7-Write-off of Depositearlier quarters in the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

Nasdaq Continued Listing Requirements

On December 19, 2018, we received a notification letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) indicating that for 30 consecutive business days our common stock did not maintain a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share as required by Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). Consistent with this rule, Nasdaq initially provided us with a compliance period of 180 calendar days, or until June 17, 2019, to regain compliance with this rule. To regain compliance with this rule, the closing bid price of our common stock must meet or exceed $1.00 per share for at least ten consecutive business days during this 180 calendar day period. On June 19, 2019, Nasdaq notified us that, although we have not regained compliance with the minimum $1.00 closing bid price per share requirement, Nasdaq has determined that we were eligible for an additional 180 calendar day period, or until December 16, 2019, to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. The second 180-day period relates exclusively to the $1.00 closing bid price deficiency, and we may be delisted during the 180-day period for failure to maintain compliance with any other Nasdaq listing requirements for which we are currently on notice or which occurs during the 180-day period.

On April 17, 2019, we received a letter from the Nasdaq notifying us that we were not in compliance with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing as a result of our failure to timely file our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. Pursuant to the notice, we were required to submit to Nasdaq a plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s requirements for continued listing within 60 calendar days of the date of the notice (by June 17, 2019). On May 21, 2019, we received another notice from Nasdaq notifying us that we were not in compliance with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing on Nasdaq as a result the delay in filing our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019, and Nasdaq accelerated the date to submit our plan to meet Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements to May 23, 2019, which we complied with. Nasdaq granted us an exception to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) until September 16, 2019 to file our delinquent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and until October 14, 2019 to file our delinquent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019. On August 16, 2019, Nasdaq again notified us that we were not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) for continued listing due to the delay in filing our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2019. On September 3, 2019, we submitted to Nasdaq an update to our plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s filing requirements for continued listing for the Nasdaq staff to review and consider. On October 15, 2019, the first business day after October 14, 2019, which was a federal holiday, we filed our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019. On October 16, 2019, Nasdaq notified us that as a result of our filing the annual report on Form 10-K on September 16, 2019 and the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q on October 15, 2019, we werefirst quarter of 2020 used in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1).

On May 9, 2019, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that we were not in compliancethe calculation of the average price are replaced with the requirement of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(c)(2) for continued listing on Nasdaq as a result of our audit committee being comprised of fewer than three independent directors. It is the position of Audit Committee that it was comprised of three independent directors prior to May 9, 2019, and that any action taken to remove two of the member of the audit committee was invalid. Subsequent to May 9, 2019, Mr. Hoffman resigned from the Board and from the audit committee. On June 14, 2019, Nasdaq notified us that as a result of the appointment of Catherine Boggs to our Board of Directors and audit committee, Nasdaq determined that we were in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(c)(2).more recent lower priced quarters.

 

Legal Proceedings

 

In July 2020, we received a request for arbitration from our former Chief Executive Officer claiming that we breached his employment agreement. We intend to vigorously contest this matter and believe these claims are without merit. The employment agreement requires that any disputes be submitted to binding arbitration. We have insurance for these types of claims and have reported the request for arbitration to our insurance carrier. We believe it is probable that we will incur future defense costs in this matter and have accrued $100 thousand at September 30, 2020, representing the amount of the Company’s responsibility for costs under the insurance policy.

APEG II, which entity Patrick E. Duke, a director of the Company has shared voting power and shared investment power over, is our largest shareholder holding approximately 43%40% of our outstanding common stock, and its general partner, APEG Energy II, GP (together with APEG II, “APEG”) are, were involved in litigation with us and our former Chief Executive Officer, David Veltri. On July 29, 2020 APEG filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in their lawsuit against us and Mr. Veltri and on July 30, 2020, we filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in our Lawsuit against Mr. Veltri. The litigation was formally dismissed in August 2020. For more detail regarding such litigation, please see the sectionsLitigation—APEG II Litigationand–Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer inNote 89Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactionsin the Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I,I-Financial Information- Item 1 1. Financial Statements of this report  .report.

Annual Meeting of Shareholders

On November 5, 2019, we filed our definitive proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) for our 2019 annual meeting of shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”) with the SEC and also commenced mailing of the Proxy Statement. As noted in the Proxy Statement, the Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, at 8:00 a.m., Central Time, at our Houston offices located at 675 Bering, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77057. Our Board of Directors has nominated two Class Two directors, James W. Denny III and Patrick E. Duke, and two Class One directors, Randall D. Keys and D. Stephen Slack, for election at the Annual Meeting. The proposals upon which our shareholders will vote at the Annual Meeting, including more detailed information regarding the director nominees, are set forth in the Proxy Statement.

 

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

 

The preparation of our condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) requires us to make assumptions and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. A summary of our significant accounting policies is detailed inPart II, Item 7 – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial ConditionsCondition and Results of Operationsof our 20182019 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on September 16, 2019.March 30, 2020.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

 

Please refer to the section entitledAdopted and Recently IssuedAdopted Accounting Pronouncements underNote 1 – Organization, Operations and Significant Accounting Policies in the Notes to the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report for additional information on recently issuedadopted accounting standards and our plans for adoption of those standards.

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Results of Operations

 

Comparison of our Statements of Operations for the Three Months Ended September 30, 20192020 and 20182019

 

DuringFor the three months ended September 30, 2019,2020, we recorded a net loss of $281$1,713 thousand as compared to a net incomeloss of $467$281 thousand for the three months ended September 30, 2018.2019. In the following sections we discuss our revenue, operating expenses and non-operating income for the three months ended September 30, 20192020 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2018.2019.

 

Revenue.Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas sales, production quantities and average sales prices for the three months ended September 30, 20192020 and 20182019 (dollars in thousands, except average sales prices):

 

      Change  

Three months ended

September 30,

  Change 
 2019 2018 Amount Percent  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
                  
Revenue:                                
Oil $1,571  $1,120  $451   40% $362  $1,571  $(1,209)  -77%
Gas  62   102   (40)  -39%  39   62   (23)  -37%
                                
Total $1,633  $1,222  $411   34% $401  $1,633  $(1,232)  -75%
                                
Production quantities:                                
Oil (Bbls)  28,266   16,194   12,072   75%  10,354   28,266   (17,912)  -63%
Gas (Mcfe)  37,978   29,623   8,355   28%
Gas (Mcf)  18,591   37,978   (19,387)  -51%
BOE  34,596   21,131   13,465   64%  13,453   34,596   (21,143)  -61%
                                
Average sales prices:                                
Oil (Bbls) $55.58  $69.16  $(13.58)  -20% $34.96  $55.58  $(20.62)  -37%
Gas (Mcfe)  1.63   3.45   (1.82)  -53%
Gas (Mcf)  2.10   1.63   0.47   29%
BOE $47.20  $57.84  $(10.64)  -18% $29.81  $47.20  $(17.39)  -37%

 

The increasedecrease in our oil and gas revenue of $411$1,232 thousand for the three months ended September 30, 20192020 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 20182019 was primarily attributabledue to an increasea decrease in oil production of 75% due to a significant increase in production from our South Texas operations where we have participated in the drilling of three wells in the last year. As a result, our overall production quantities on a barrels of oil equivalent (“BOE”) basis increased by 64%. During the three-month period ended September 30, 2019 the price we received per BOE decreased 18%, which was comprised of a63% and decrease in the realized price received for our oil production of 20% and37%. The decline in oil prices is primarily due to reduced demand on a decreaseglobal basis beginning in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our oil price differential widened, particularly for our natural gas production by 53%. ForNorth Dakota properties where the three months ended September 30, 2019, 82% of our production on a BOE basis wasdifferential from oilWTI increased to $6.40 per barrel as compared to 77%$4.37 per barrel in the comparable period in 2019. The decrease in oil production volumes is primarily the result of 2018.operators shutting in production on our North Dakota properties as a response to low oil prices and the production declines from our South Texas wells drilled in late 2018 and early 2019.

 

For the three months ended September 30, 2019,2020, we produced 34,59613,453 BOE, or an average of 376146 BOE per day, as compared to 21,13134,596 BOE or 230376 BOE per day during the comparable period in 2018.2019. This increasedecrease was mainly attributable to North Dakota operators shutting in production as the result of low prices and the production declines from the previously mentioned drilling activity from our South Texas operations for which we saw a significant increase in production beginning in December 2018.

28

wells.

Oil and Gas Production Costs. Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas production costs for the three months ended September 30, 20192020 and 20182019 (dollars in thousands):

 

      Change  

Three months ended

September 30,

  Change 
 2019  2018  Amount  Percent  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
                  
Production taxes $107  $96  $11   12% $30  $107  $(77)  -72%
Lease operating expense  410   357   53   15%  290   410   (120)  -29%
                                
Total $517  $453  $64   14% $320  $517  $(197)  -38%
Per Boe $14.94  $21.44  $-6.50   -30%

 

For the three months ended September 30, 2019,2020, production taxes increaseddecreased by $11$77 thousand, or 12%72%, compared to the comparable period in 2018 due2019. This decrease was primarily attributable to a 34% increasethe decrease in revenues and a higher percentage of revenues in the current quarter being generated from our Texas operations where the production tax rate is lower relative to North Dakota. Production taxes on a per BOE basis were $3.09 in the current year quarter compared to $4.54 per BOE in the prior year quarter. Duringoil revenues. For the three months ended September 30, 2019,2020, lease operating expenses increaseddecreased by $53$120 thousand or 15%, when compared to the three months ended September 30, 20182019 due to increased field activity across our asset base during the three months ended September 30, 2019. On a per BOE basis, lease operating expenses were $11.85 in the current year quarter compared to $16.89 per BOE in the prior year quarter. The decrease in lease operating expenses on a BOE basis wascost cutting measures enacted due to a fixed cost component of our operating costs being spread over a larger production base.low commodity prices and reduced field activity.

 

Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization.Our depreciation, depletion and amortization (“DD&A”) rate for the three months ended September 30, 20192020 was $5.04$5.32 per BOE compared to $3.53$5.04 per BOE for the three months ended September 30, 2018.2019. For the most recently completed quarter, our depletion rate was impacted by the reduction in reserve quantities, primarily due to pricing revisions. Our DD&A rate can fluctuate because of changes in drilling and completion costs, impairments, divestitures, changes in the mix of our production, the underlying proved reserve volumes and estimated costs to drill and complete proved undeveloped reserves.

Impairment of Oil and Natural Gas Properties. For the three months ended September 30, 2020 we recorded impairment of $1.1 million due to the net capitalized cost of our oil and natural gas properties exceeding the full cost ceiling limitation. For the three months ended September 30, 2019 there was no such full cost ceiling limitation.

General and Administrative Expenses. Presented below is a comparison of our general and administrative expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (dollars in thousands):

  

Three months ended

September 30,

  Change 
  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
             
Compensation and benefits, including directors $365  $177  $188   106%
Professional fees, insurance and other  242   812   (570)  -70%
                 
Total $607  $989  $(382)  -39%

General and administrative expenses decreased by $382 thousand during the three-month period ended September 30, 2020 as compared to the prior year period primarily due to a reduction in professional fees. The decrease was primarily attributable to a reduction in legal fees of $239 thousand. In the prior year period, we incurred legal costs of $104 thousand primarily as a result of the APEG II litigation. See Litigation—APEG II Litigation and –Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer in Note 9Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactions in the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report. Accounting fees also decreased $324 thousand for the three months ended September 30, 2020 when compared to the prior year period due to fees related to the forensic accounting investigation in the prior year period. These decreases in professional fees were partially offset by an increase in compensation and benefits of $188 thousand due to the amortization of stock-based compensation awards granted to our Chief Executive Officer and members of our Board in January 2020 and an incentive-based compensation accrual of $150 thousand.

30

Non-Operating Income (Expense). Presented below is a comparison of our non-operating income (expense) for the three months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (dollars in thousands):

  

Three months ended

September 30,

  Change 
  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
             
Loss on marketable equity securities $(32) $(240)  208   87%
Warrant revaluation gain (loss)  55   (23)  78   339%
Rental property loss, net  (5)  (16)  11   69%
Other income  26   50   (24)  -48%
Interest, net  (1)  1   (2)  -200%
                 
Total other income (expense) $43  $(228) $271   119%

For the three months ended September 30, 2020 we recognized an unrealized loss on marketable equity securities of $32 thousand as compared to a loss of $240 thousand for the comparable period of 2019. The unrealized losses represent the decline in value of our investment in Anfield. In July 2020, we sold 1,210,455 shares of Anfield, representing one-third of our total investment, for proceeds of $45 thousand. We expect to sell the remaining shares in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

For the three months ended September 30, 2020, we recognized a warrant revaluation gain of $55 thousand as compared to a loss of $23 thousand during the three months ending September 30, 2019. The gain for the three months ended September 30, 2020 was attributable to a decrease in the warrant liability primarily due to an exercise of 50,000 of the 100,000 outstanding warrants during the period, which was partially offset by an increase in the liability due to an increase in the value of our common stock at September 30, 2020.

For the three months ending September 30, 2020 we recognized a loss on rental property. The loss represents rental expenses in excess of rental income related to our Riverton, Wyoming office building. We have entered into an agreement with a large national commercial broker to sell the office building.

In 2018, due to uncertainty of collection, we wrote off a receivable of $374 thousand related to a refundable deposit for a transaction that was not completed. For the three months ended September 30, 2020, we recovered $25 thousand of the receivable. For the three months ended September 30, 2019 we recovered $50 thousand related to the recovery of the same receivable. The total amounts of the receivable collected through September 30, 2020 is $250 thousand. See Note 7-Write-Off of Deposit in the notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

Interest, net represents the interest related to our insurance premium finance note net of interest earned on cash balances on deposit at our bank.

Comparison of our Statements of Operations for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2020 and 2019

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recorded a net loss of $5,670 thousand as compared to a net loss of $246 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. In the following sections we discuss our revenue, operating expenses and non-operating income for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Revenue. Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas sales, production quantities and average sales prices for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (dollars in thousands, except average sales prices):

  

Nine months ended

September 30,

  Change 
  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
             
Revenue:                
Oil $1,418  $4,746  $(3,328)  -70%
Gas  95   320   (225)  -70%
                 
Total $1,513  $5,066  $(3,553)  -70%
                 
Production quantities:                
Oil (Bbls)  42,369   83,006   (40,637)  -49%
Gas (Mcf)  72,025   151,381   (79,356)  -52%
BOE  54,373   108,236   (53,863)  -50%
                 
Average sales prices:                
Oil (Bbls) $33.47  $57.18  $(23.71)  -42%
Gas (Mcf)  1.31   2.11   (0.80)  -38%
BOE $27.82  $46.81  $(18.99)  -41%

The decrease in our oil and gas revenue of $3,553 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was due primarily to a decrease in oil production of 49% and decrease in the realized price received for our oil production of 42%. The decline in oil prices is primarily due to reduced demand on a global basis beginning in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our oil price differential widened significantly, particularly for our North Dakota properties where the differential from WTI increased to $7.08 per barrel as compared to $4.37 per barrel in the comparable period in 2019. The decrease in oil production quantities is the result of operators shutting in production in our North Dakota properties beginning in April 2020 as a response to low oil prices, and the production declines from our South Texas wells, which were drilled in late 2018 and early 2019.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we produced 54,373 BOE, or an average of 198 BOE per day, as compared to 108,236 BOE or 396 BOE per day during the comparable period in 2019. This decrease was mainly attributable to North Dakota operators shutting in production as the result of low prices and the production declines from the previously mentioned South Texas wells.

Oil and Gas Production Costs. Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas production costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 (dollars in thousands):

  

Nine months ended

September 30,

  Change 
  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
             
Production taxes $110  $323  $(213)  -66%
Lease operating expense  1,032   1,348   (316)  -23%
                 
Total $1,142  $1,671  $(529)  -32%

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, production taxes decreased by $213 thousand, or 66%, as compared to the comparable period in 2019. This decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in oil revenues, which decreased by 70% compared to 2019. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, lease operating expenses decreased by $316 thousand when compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019 as the result of operators shutting in production, cost cutting measures enacted due to low commodity prices and reduced field activity.

Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization. Our DD&A rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $5.05 per BOE, compared to $4.90 per BOE for the nine months ended September 30, 2019. For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, our depletion rate was impacted by a reclassification of $2.1 million of our unevaluated properties and the reduction in reserve quantities at September 30, 2020, primarily due to pricing revisions. Our DD&A rate can fluctuate as a result of changes in drilling and completion costs, impairments, divestitures, changes in the mix of our production, the underlying proved reserve volumes and estimated costs to drill and complete proved undeveloped reserves.

 

Impairment of Oil and Natural Gas properties.Properties. DuringFor the threenine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018,2020 we recorded an impairment of $2.9 million due to the net capitalized cost of our oil and natural gas properties did not exceedexceeding the full cost ceiling limitation; therefore, we did not record an impairment charge.limitation. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, there was no such full cost ceiling limitation.

 

General and Administrative Expenses.Presented below is a comparison of our general and administrative expenses for the threenine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 20182019 (dollars in thousands):

 

      Change  

Nine months ended

September 30,

  Change 
 2019 2018 Amount Percent  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
                  
Compensation and benefits, including directors $166  $222  $(56)  -25 $884  $655  $229   35%
Stock-based compensation 9 13 (4) -31%
Professional fees, insurance and other  814  386  428 111%  662   2,434   (1,772)  -73%
Bad debt expense  -   28   (28)  100%
                 
Total $989 $621 $368 59% $1,546  $3,117  $(1,571)  -50%

 

General and administrative expenses increaseddecreased by $368$1,571 thousand duringfor the three-monthnine-month period ended September 30, 2020 as compared to the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019 as compareddue to the three-month period ended September 30, 2018.a reduction in professional fees. The increasedecrease was primarily attributable to a reduction in legal fees of $1,421 thousand, including the removal of $250 thousand for litigation settlement accruals. The APEG litigation was dismissed in August 2020, without us incurring certain estimated legal costs. Also included in legal fees during the period is an increase in professional feesaccrual of $100 thousand for a claim from a former employee that will go to arbitration. In the prior year’s period, we incurred legal costs of $1,281 thousand, primarily as athe result of the APEG II litigation. SeeLitigation—APEG II Litigationand–Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer inNote 89Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactionsin the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report. This increase wasCompensation and benefits increased $229 thousand due to amortization of stock-based compensation awards granted to our Chief Executive Officer and directors in January 2020 of $170 thousand and an accrual for 2020 bonuses of $225 thousand. These increases were partially offset by a reduction in compensation and benefits as the result of a reduction in corporatesalary expense due to lower headcount.

Non-Operating Income (Expense). Presented below is a comparison of our non-operating income (expense) for the threenine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 20182019 (dollars in thousands):

 

        Change 
  2019  2018  Amount  Percent 
             
Loss on commodity derivative contracts  -   (14)  14   NA 
Unrealized (loss) gain on marketable equity securities  (240)  203   (443)  -218%
Warrant revaluation (loss) gain  (23)  288   (311)  -108%
Rental property loss  (16)  (58)  42   -72%
Recovery of deposit  50   -   50   NA 
Interest, net  1   (19)  20   -105%
                 
Total non-operating (expense) income $(228) $400  $(628)  -157%
  

Nine months ended

September 30,

  Change 
  2020  2019  Amount  Percent 
             
Loss on real estate held for sale  (651)  -   (651)  -%
Impairment of real estate  (403)  -   (403)  -%
Unrealized loss on marketable equity securities  (153)  (235)  82   35%
Warrant revaluation (loss) gain  (65)  219   (284)  -130%
Rental property loss  (40)  (39)  (1)  -3%
Other income  54   100   (46)  -46%
Interest, net  (3)  (19)  16   84%
                 
Total other income (expense) $(1,261) $26  $(1,287)  -4950,%

 

During the threenine months ended September 30, 2019,2020 we had no outstanding commodity derivative contracts. Duringreclassified our Riverton, Wyoming office building and the three months ended September 30, 2018,related parcel of land to real estate held for sale. Concurrent with the reclassification we hadrecognized a $1$651 thousand realized loss to adjust the carrying amount of the land and a $13 thousand unrealized loss on commodity derivatives. Unrealized gains and losses result from changes in thebuilding to its estimated fair value of the derivatives as commodity prices increase or decrease. Unrealized gains and losses are also recognized $725 thousand. See Note 3Real Estate Held for Sale in the month when derivative contracts are settlednotes to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in cash through the recognitionPart I, Item 1 of a realized gain or loss.this report.

 

During the threenine months ended September 30, 2019,2020 we recorded impairment of $403 thousand related to three land parcels totalling 13.85 acres that we own in Riverton, Wyoming, which are not currently offered for sale.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020 we recognized an unrealized loss on marketable equity securities of $153 thousand as compared to an unrealized loss of $235 thousand for the comparable period of 2019. The unrealized loss represents the decline in value of our investment in Anfield Energy Inc. In July 2020, we sold 1,210,455 shares, representing one-third of our total investment for proceeds of $45 thousand. We expect to sell the remaining shares in the fourth quarter of 2020.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, we recognized a warrant revaluation loss of $23$65 thousand as compared to a gain of $288$219 thousand during the threenine months ended September 30, 2018.2019. The change in the valuation of the warrants is primarily attributable to a decline in the value of our common stockloss during the threenine months ended September 30, 2018 and2020 was attributable to an increase in the warrant liability, primarily as a slightresult of the increase in the value of our common stock, which was partially offset an exercise of 50,000 of the 100,000 outstanding warrants during the threeperiod.

In 2018, due to uncertainty of collection, we wrote off a receivable of $374 thousand related to a refundable deposit for a transaction that was not completed. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019.2020, we recovered $50 thousand of the receivable. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019 we recovered $100 thousand related to the recovery of the same receivable. The total amounts of the receivable collected through September 30, 2020 is $250 thousand. See Note 7-Write-Off of Deposit in the notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

 

Interest, net decreased by $20$16 thousand during the threenine months ended September 30, 20192020 compared to the comparable period in 2018.2019. The decrease was attributable to the reduction in the principal balance of our credit facility, which was repaid in full on March 1, 2019 and interest income earned on cash and a note receivable. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in interest related to insurance premium financing in 2019.

 

During the three months ended September 30, 2019, we recognized a gain of $50 thousand from the partial recovery of a deposit written off in 2018. SeeNote 7-Write-Off of Depositin the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

Comparison of our Statements of Operations for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2019 and 2018

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we recorded a net loss of $246 thousand as compared to a net loss of $950 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2018. In the following sections we discuss our revenue, operating expenses and non-operating income for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2018.

Revenue.Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas sales, production quantities and average sales prices for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 (dollars in thousands, except average sales prices):

        Change 
  2019  2018  Amount  Percent 
             
Revenue:                
Oil $4,746  $3,642  $1,104   30%
Gas  320   708   (388)  -55%
                 
Total $5,066  $4,350  $716   16%
                 
Production quantities:                
Oil (Bbls)  83,006   56,820   26,186   46%
Gas (Mcfe)  151,381   226,710   (75,329)  -32%
BOE  108,236   94,605   13,631   14%
                 
Average sales prices:                
Oil (Bbls) $57.18  $64.10  $(6.92)  -11%
Gas (Mcfe)  2.11   3.12   (1.01)  -32%
BOE $46.81  $45.98  $0.83   2%

The increase in our oil and gas revenue of $716 thousand for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2018 was primarily attributed to an increase in oil production of 46% due to a significant increase in production from our South Texas operations where we have participated in the drilling of three wells in the last year. As a result, our overall production quantities on a per BOE basis increased 14%. In addition, prices on a BOE basis increased 2%. During the nine-month period ended September 30, 2019 the price we received per BOE increased despite the price received for our oil production decreasing by 11% and the price received for our gas production decreasing by 32% due to an oil-weighted shift in our production mix. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, 77% of our production on a BOE basis was from oil as compared to 60% in the comparable period of 2018.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, our production on a BOE basis increased 14% at 396 BOE per day compared to 347 BOE per day for the comparable period of 2018. We produced 108,236 BOE during the first nine months of 2019 compared to 94,605 BOE for the same period in 2018. This increase was mainly attributable to the previously mentioned drilling activity from our South Texas operations for which we saw a significant increase in oil production beginning in December 2018.. The increase in our oil production was partially offset by a decrease in natural gas production, primarily due to our Louisiana natural gas well, which has been shut-in for the entire nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Oil and Gas Production Costs. Presented below is a comparison of our oil and gas production costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 (dollars in thousands):

        Change 
  2019  2018  Amount  Percent 
             
Production taxes $323  $316  $7   2%
Lease operating expense  1,348   1,431   (83)  -6%
                 
Total $1,671  $1,747  $(76)  -4%
Per BOE $15.44  $18.47  $(3.03)  -16%

For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, production taxes increased $7 thousand when compared to the comparable period in 2018 due to a 16% increase in revenues and a higher percentage of revenues in the current year period being generated from our Texas operations where the production tax rate is lower relative to North Dakota. Production taxes were $2.98 per BOE in the current year period compared to $3.34 per BOE in the prior year period. During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, lease operating expense decreased by $83 thousand, or 6%, when compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2018 as the result of reduced field activity across our asset base. On a per BOE basis, lease operating expense was $12.46 in the current year period compared to $15.13 per BOE in the prior year period. The decrease in lease operating expenses on a BOE basis was due to a fixed cost component our operating costs being spread over a larger production base.

Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization.Our DD&A rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was $4.92 per BOE compared to $3.66 per BOE for the nine months ended September 30, 2018. Our DD&A rate can fluctuate as a result of changes in drilling and completion costs, impairments, divestitures, changes in the mix of our production, the underlying proved reserve volumes and estimated costs to drill and complete proved undeveloped reserves.

Impairment of Oil and Natural Gas Properties.During the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, the net capitalized cost of our oil and natural gas properties did not exceed the full cost ceiling limitation; therefore, we did not record an impairment charge.

General and Administrative Expenses.Presented below is a comparison of our general and administrative expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 (dollars in thousands):

        Change 
  2019  2018  Amount  Percent 
             
Compensation and benefits, including directors $620  $1,548  $(928)  -60%
Stock-based compensation  35   623   (588)  -94%
Professional fees, insurance and other  2,434   1,183   1,251   106%
Bad debt expense  28   -   28   NA 
                 
Total $3,117  $3,354  $(237)  -7%

General and administrative expenses decreased by $237 thousand during nine-month period ended September 30, 2019 as compared to the nine-month period ended September 30, 2018. The decrease was primarily attributable to a reduction in compensation and benefits related to the reduction in corporate overhead combined with the payment of a cash incentive bonus to officers and employees in 2018. We did not pay any cash bonuses during the nine months ended September 30, 2019. In addition, during the nine months ended September 30, 2018, we granted stock-based awards to officers and employees. No such stock-based award was given in 2019. The decrease in general and administrative expenses was partially offset by an increase in professional fees as a result of the APEG II litigation and the forensic accounting investigation. SeePart II, Item 1. Legal Proceedings-APEG II Litigation.

Non-Operating Income (Expense). Presented below is a comparison of our non-operating income (expense) for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018 (dollars in thousands):

        Change 
  2019  2018  Amount  Percent 
             
Loss on commodity derivative contracts  -   (225)  225   NA 
Unrealized gain (loss) on marketable equity securities  (235)  80   (315)  -394%
Warrant revaluation gain  219   478   (260)  -54%
Rental property loss  (39)  (94)  56   -60%
Recovery of deposit written-off  100   -   100   NA 
Interest, net  (19)  (73)  54   -74%
                 
Total non-operating income (expense) $26  $166  $(140)  -84%

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we had no outstanding commodity derivative contracts. During the nine months ended September 30, 2018, we had a $349 thousand realized loss and a $124 thousand unrealized gain on commodity derivatives. Unrealized gains and losses result from changes in the fair value of the derivatives as commodity prices increase or decrease. Unrealized gains and losses are also recognized in the month when derivative contracts are settled in cash through the recognition of a realized gain or loss.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we recognized a warrant revaluation gain of $219 thousand as compared to a gain of $478 thousand during the nine months ended September 30, 2018. The decrease was primarily attributable to a larger decline in the value of our common stock during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2019, we recognized a gain of $100 thousand from the partial recovery of a deposit written off in 2018. SeeNote 7-Write-Off of Depositin the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

Interest, net decreased by $54 thousand during the nine months ended September 30, 2019 compared to the comparable period in 2018. The decrease was attributable to the reduction in the principal balance of our credit facility, which was repaid in full on March 1, 2019. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in interest expense related to insurance premium financing in 2019.

34

 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures- Adjusted EBITDAX

 

Adjusted EBITDAX represents income (loss) from continuing operations as further modified to eliminate depreciation, depletion accretion and amortization, impairment, stock-based compensation expense, unrealized gains and loss on marketable equity securities, gains and losses on warrant revaluation, income taxes, unrealized commodity price risk derivative gains and losses on the reclassification of real estate to held for sale, interest expense net of interest income, and other items set forth in the table below. Adjusted EBITDAX excludes certain items that we believe affect the comparability of operating results and items that are generally one-time in nature or whose timing and/or amount cannot be reasonably estimated.

Adjusted EBITDAX is a non-GAAP measure that is presented because we believe it provides useful additional information to investors and analysts as a performance measure. In addition, adjusted EBITDAX is widely used by professional research analysts and others in the valuation, comparison, and investment recommendations of companies in the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry, and many investors use the published research of industry research analysts in making investment decisions. Adjusted EBITDAX should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income (loss), income (loss) from operations, net cash provided by operating activities, or profitability or liquidity measures prepared under GAAP. Because adjusted EBITDAX excludes some, but not all items that affect net income (loss) and may vary among companies, the adjusted EBITDAX amounts presented may not be comparable to similar metrics of other companies.

 

The following table provides reconciliations of income (loss) from continuing operations to adjusted EBITDAX for the nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018:2019:

 

 2019 2018  Nine months ended
September 30,
 
 (in thousands)  2020  2019 
Net loss from continuing operations (GAAP) $(246) $(950)
 (in thousands) 
Loss from continuing operations (GAAP) $(5,670) $(246)
Depreciation, depletion, accretion and amortization  550   365   291   550 
Unrealized loss (gain) on marketable equity securities  235   (80)
Gain on warrant revaluation  (219)  (478)
Unrealized gain on commodity price risk derivatives  -   (124)
Impairment of oil and gas properties  2,943   - 
Loss on real estate held for sale  651   - 
Impairment of real estate  403   - 
Loss on marketable equity securities  153   235 
Loss (gain) on warrant revaluation  65   (219)
Stock-based compensation expense  35   623   170   35 
Interest, net  19   73   3   19 
                
Adjusted EBITDAX (Non-GAAP) $374  $(571) $(991) $374 

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

The following table sets forth certain measures of our liquidity as of September 30, 20192020 and December 31, 2018:2019:

 

  September 30, 2019  December 31, 2018  Change 
  (in thousands) 
Cash and equivalents $1,385  $2,340  $(955)
Working capital(1)  1,662   2,018   (356)
Total assets  14,157   14,778   (621)
Outstanding debt under credit facility  -   937   (937)
Borrowing base under credit facility  -   6,000   (6,000)
Total shareholders’ equity  9,508   9,719   (211)
             
Select Ratios:            
Current ratio(2)  2.2 to 1    2.2 to 1.0     
Debt to equity ratio(3)  -    0.1 to 1.0     
  September 30, 2020  

December 31,

2019

  Change 
  (in thousands) 
Cash and equivalents $1,039  $1,532  $(493)
Working capital (1)  802   1,470   (668)
Total assets  9,606   13,467   (3,195)
Total shareholders’ equity  4,598   9,210   (3,793)
             
Select Ratios:            
Current ratio (2)  1.5 to 1.0    2.2 to 1.0     

 

 (1)Working capital is computed by subtracting total current liabilities from total current assets.
 (2)The current ratio is computed by dividing total current assets by total current liabilities.
(3)The debt to equity ratio is computed by dividing total debt by total shareholders’ equity.

As of September 30, 2019,2020, we have ahad working capital surplus of $1,662$802 thousand compared to a working capital surplus of $2,018$1,470 thousand as of December 31, 2018,2019, a decrease of $356$668 thousand. This decrease was primarily attributable to additional legal expenses incurred as a resultcash used in operating activities of $549 thousand and cash payments of $183 thousand for the ongoing litigation with APEG II.

Our sole sourceacquisition of debt financing was a revolving credit facility with APEG II, which we repaid in full in March 2019, and the credit facility matured on July 30, 2019. The borrowing base was $6.0 million asNew Horizon, including repayment of December 31, 2018. APEG II was the secured lender under theits credit facility and is currently involved in litigation with us, as described inLitigation—APEG II Litigationand–Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer inNote 8Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactionsin the Notes tocash payment of $529 thousand for the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1acquisition of this report. As described above,certain assets from FieldPoint which were partially offset by the costs associated with the ongoing litigation have been a significant usereclassification of our existing cash. Asreal estate held for sale of November 12, 2019, we have incurred $1,140 thousand in connection with such litigation. While we have historically funded all litigation costs out of operating cash flow, continued excessive legal fees associated with litigation could impair our liquidity profile and ability to fund significant drilling obligations.$725 thousand.

 

As of September 30, 2019,2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1,385$1,039 thousand and accounts payable and accrued liabilities of $1,145 thousand. As of November 12, 2019,5, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1,744approximately $2,415 thousand and accounts payable and accrued liabilities of approximately $466$690 thousand. Continued ongoing litigation could negatively

In early March 2020, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) WTI crude oil price decreased significantly and although it has increased to $38.49 per barrel as of November 5, 2020, it remained historically low for much of the three-month period ended September 30, 2020. Currently, we do not have any commodity derivative contracts in place to mitigate the effect of lower commodity prices on our revenues. Lower oil and natural gas prices not only decrease our revenues, but an extended decline in oil or gas prices may materially and adversely affect our future business, financial position, cash flows, results of operations, liquidity, ability to raise both debt and equityfinance planned capital going forward and fund our operations. As of November 12, 2019, we have incurred approximately $1,140 thousand for litigationexpenditures and the forensic accounting investigation.oil and natural gas reserves that we can economically produce.

Lower crude prices could also affect the realizability of our oil and gas properties. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 we recorded ceiling test write-downs of $1.1 million and 2.9 million, respectively. In the calculation of the ceiling test as of September 30, 2020, we used $43.40 per barrel for oil and $1.97 per mcf for natural gas (as further adjusted for differentials related to property, specific gravity, quality, local markets and distance from markets) to compute the future cash flows of our producing properties. The discount factor used was 10%. These prices represent the average of first day of the month prices for oil and natural gas for each month in the twelve-month period ended September 30, 2020. If depressed prices for crude oil continue, it is likely that the Company will experience additional ceiling test write-downs in 2020 and 2021 as higher prices from earlier quarters in 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, used in the calculation of the average price, are replaced with the more recent lower priced quarters.

The Company owns a 14-acre tract in Riverton, Wyoming with a two-story, 30,400 square foot office building. The building served as the Company’s corporate headquarters until 2015 and is currently being leased to government agencies and other non-affiliated companies. In 2020, the Company made the decision to sell the land and building and began a process to determine the price at which it would list the property for sale. The Company determined that the realizable value of the building was in the range of $700 thousand to $900 thousand. A special committee of the Board was formed to evaluate the sales process and ultimately recommend any action to the Board regarding any potential action. During the three months ended September 30, 2020 we entered into an agreement with a large national commercial broker to sell the building.

In July 2020, we sold 1,210,455 shares of our investment in Anfield Energy Inc. and received proceeds of approximately $45 thousand. The sale represented one-third of our total investment in Anfield. We intend to dispose of the remaining shares during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020.

On October 2, 2020 the Company closed on a registered direct offering (the “Offering”) of 315,810 shares (the “Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Common Stock”), at $5.25 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $1,658,000, before deducting the placement agent fees and related offering expenses. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $1,523,500. The Offering was the result of a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) the Company had entered into on September 30, 2020 with certain institutional investors (the “Purchasers”) The Purchase Agreement contains customary representations and warranties and agreements of the Company and the Purchasers, and customary indemnification rights and obligations of the parties. Until the twelve month anniversary of the closing of the Offering, the Company is required to offer each of the Purchasers the right to participate in an amount up to 50% of any subsequent financing transaction undertaken by the Company at the offering price of the subsequent financing transaction. Additionally, each of the officers and directors of the Company pursuant to lock-up agreements agreed not to sell or transfer any of the Company securities which they hold, subject to certain exceptions, during the 180-day period following the closing of the Offering.

On November 16, 2020, we closed an underwritten offering of an aggregate of 1,150,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $3.00 per share. The net proceeds to the Company from the offering, after deducting the underwriting discount, the underwriters’ fees and expenses and our estimated offering expenses, are expected to be approximately $3.0 million. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes, capital expenditures, working capital, and potential acquisitions of oil and gas properties

 

If we have needs for financing during the remainder of 2019,in 2020, alternatives that we will consider in addition to cash flow from ongoing operations would potentially include entering into a new reserve-based credit facility, selling all or a portion of our interestspartial interest in our oil and natural gas assets, selling our real estate assets in Wyoming, selling our marketable equity securities, issuing shares of our common stock for cash or as consideration for acquisitions, and other alternatives, as we determine how to best fund our capital programs and meet our financial obligations.objectives.

 

Cash Flows

 

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 20192020 and 2018:2019:

 

 Nine months ended
September 30,
    
 2019  2018  Change  2020  2019  Change 
 (in thousands)  (in thousands) 
Net cash provided by (used in):                        
Operating activities $297  $(928) $1,225  $(549) $297  $(846)
Investing activities  (122)  (218)  96   (665)  (122)  (543)
Financing activities  (1,130)  862   (1,992)  721   (1,130)  1,851 

 

Operating Activities. Cash provided byused in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 20192020 was $297$549 thousand as compared to cash used inprovided by operating activities $928$297 thousand for the comparable period in 2018.2019. The increase in cash provided byused in operating activities is mainly attributable to the decrease in revenues of $3,553 thousand, which was partially offset by a decrease in lease operating expenses, production taxes and general and administrative costs of $704 thousand in the net loss,  which includes changes in noncash expenses of $325 thousand and an increase in working capital changes of $196$2,100 thousand.

 

Investing Activities. Cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was $122$665 thousand as compared to $218$122 thousand for the comparable period in 2018.2019. The primary use of cash in our investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 were oil2020 was the acquisition of New Horizon for net cash of $122 thousand and natural gas capital expenditures associated with drilling operations in South Texas.the acquisition of certain assets from FieldPoint for $529 thousand.

 

Financing Activities. Cash used inprovided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 20192020 was $1,130$721 thousand as compared to cash provided byused in financing activities of $862$1,130 thousand for the comparable period in 2018.2019. The decreasecash provided by financing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 was primarily attributable to cash received in connection with the exercise of warrants of $565 thousand and proceeds from the secured note payable of $375 thousand. These were partially offset by the repayment of $157 thousand on a note payable to finance insurance premiums and repayment of the New Horizon credit facility of $61 thousand. For the nine months ended September 30, 2019 cash used in financing activities included repayment of $937 thousand outstanding under our credit facility and $193 thousand for the repayment of our note payable to finance insurance premium finance note in the amount of $193 thousand during the nine months ended September 30, 2019, whereas during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 we received $1,666 thousand in net proceeds from the sale of shares of our common stock in our at-the-market offering program, which was offset by a $600 thousand principal payment on the credit facility and $204 thousand paid to repurchase shares to satisfy employee tax withholding on stock-based compensation.premiums.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

As part of our ongoing business, we have not participated in transactions that generate relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, such as entities often referred to as structured finance or special purpose entities (“SPEs”), which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements or other contractually narrow or limited purposes.

We evaluate our transactions to determine if any variable interest entities exist. If it is determined that we are the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity, that entity will be consolidated in our consolidated financial statements. We have not been involved in any unconsolidated SPE transactions during the periods covered by this report.

 

Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

 

As a smaller reporting company, we arePursuant to Item 305(e) of Regulation S-K (§ 229.305(e)), the Company is not required to provide the information underrequired by this Item.Item as it is a “smaller reporting company,” as defined by Rule 229.10(f)(1).

 

Item 4. Controls and Procedures

 

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures.

 

We are required to maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as defined by Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) that are designed to ensure that required information is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the required timeframe, as specified in the rules of the SEC. Our disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed is accumulated and communicated to management, including our interim Chief Executive Officer and PrincipalChief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

 

Based on an evaluationManagement, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act), as of the end of the quarter ended September 30, 2019,period covered by this report. Based on such evaluation, our interim Chief Executive Officer and PrincipalChief Financial Officer determined that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our interim Chief Executive Officer and PrincipalChief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. In connection with the termination

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of our former Chief Executive Officerdeficiencies, in February 2019 and the dispute related thereto, we have been involved in ongoing litigation to resolveinternal control over financial reporting, such disputes. SeeLitigation—APEG II Litigationand–Litigation with Former Chief Executive Officer inNote 8Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactionsin the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.Asthat there is a result of such ongoing litigation and lack of clarity with respect to the governancereasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company and the ongoing Audit Committee investigation, we were unable toCompany’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 as well as our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019.

basis. As previously reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018,2019, filed with the SEC on September 16, 2019,March 30, 2020, in connection with our assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at the end of our last fiscal year, management identified the following material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 20182019 and is in the process of remediationremediating such material weaknesses as of September 30, 2019.

We had the following material weaknesses:2020:

 

 We had inadequate segregation of duties as a result of limited accounting staff and resources, which has impacted our ability to prevent or detect material errors in our consolidated financial statements.
Our accounting staff did not have sufficient technical abilitiesstatements and to prevent or detect material errors in our consolidated financial statements including the implementation ofproperly implement new accounting standards.
We did not maintain effective controls over our payment approval process to ensure that proper supporting documentation was received and reviewed prior to payments to third parties.
 We did not have effectivehad inadequate controls over physical and logical access to our information technology to prevent unauthorized access and control of our email and file servers.
We did not effectively monitor expense reimbursements to ensure that only business expenses are reimbursed to employees on their expense reports.
We did not have a process in place to identify related parties.
We did not have a policy in place that requires Board approval prior to us expending material amounts of Company funds in connection with evaluating potential acquisitions or transactions with third parties and vendors.systems.

For a summary of the actions we have taken following the identification of the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2018 as noted above, seePart I, Item 2 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Recent Developments—Audit Committee Investigationand the discussion below under the headingChanges in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting—Management’s Remediation Plan.

 

Changes in Internal Control Overover Financial Reporting.

 

With the exception of the remediation efforts described below, thereThere have been no changes to our system of internal control over financial reporting during the three months ended September 30, 20192020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our system of controls over financial reporting.

 

We have designed a remediation plan to strengthen our internal control over financial reporting and have taken, and will continue to take, remediation steps to address the material weaknesses described above. We will also continue to take meaningful steps to enhancefurther improve our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal controls over financial reporting.

Management’s Remediation Plan

In response to the material weaknesses identified inConclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Proceduresdiscussed above, we have developed a plan (the “Remediation Plan”) with oversight from our Audit Committee to remediate the material weaknesses and have begun working on implementing the Remediation Plan. Our Remediation Plan implements certain changes to our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) and Rule 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act), including, but not limited to, the following efforts:

Performing a full review of our system of internal control and evaluating the effectiveness of this system on an ongoing basis.
Adding professionals to our accounting staff who have experience in implementing and maintaining an effective system of internal control.
Establishing effective segregation of duty controls, including segregation of duties to ensure the approval of disbursement transactions is performed by someone other than the person initiating the transaction.
Creating and enforcing a written expense reimbursement policy that applies to both employees and Board members that (i) defines allowable expenses, (ii) requires pre-approval of expenditures above $500 in situations where personal conflicts of interest may exist; (iii) prohibits the payment of vendors and reimbursement through expense reports; (iv) outlines the documentation requirements for reimbursements, including receipts for meals or events exceeding $50, listing all parties at such meal and the business purposes of each meal or event; (v) requires detailed folios and receipts for all hotel stays; (vi) requires passenger information for all flights and a description of the business purpose of such travel; (vii) defines the levels of approval, including the approval of the Chief Executive Officer’s expenses by the chairman of the Audit Committee and other officers’ expenses by the Chief Executive Officer; (viii) establishes that all expenses must be submitted within 60 days of incurring the expense or such expense will not be subject to reimbursement; (ix) defines that all employees travel by coach for flights lasting less than three hours and by business class for flights lasting longer than three hours; and (x) defines the type of rental car allowed while traveling.
Establishing that all checks or wire transfers issued by the Company require the approval of both the Chief Financial Officer and the Controller.
Establishing a vendor approval process whereby any third-party vendors require approval by both the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer prior to engagement of such third-party vendors.
Requiring employees and Board members to certify in writing at least annually that all potential conflicts of interest have been disclosed.
Implementing a policy that prohibits employees from using Company vendors, including attorneys, accountants and consultants, for personal purposes without obtaining prior Board approval.
Implementing a policy that clearly defines the types of potential projects or transactions that require prior Board approval prior to evaluating such potential project or transaction and incurring material expenses in connection with such evaluation, including due diligence.

Our management believes the foregoing remedial efforts will effectively remediate the material weaknesses that we identified. As we continue to evaluate and work to improve our internal control over financial reporting, our management may determine to take additional measures to address control deficiencies or determine to modify the Remediation Plan. If not remediated, these control deficiencies could result in material misstatements to our consolidated financial statements in the future.

Additionally, as part of a continuing effort to improve our business processes, management is currently evaluating its existing internal controls and may update certain controls to accommodate any modifications to its business processes or accounting procedures.

PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

 

Item 1. Legal Proceedings

 

APEG II, our largest shareholder holding approximately 43% of our outstanding common stock, andIn July 2020, the Company received a request for arbitration from its general partner, APEG Energy II, GP (together with APEG II, “APEG”) are involved in litigation with us and our former Chief Executive Officer David Veltri. For more detail regarding such litigation, please seeclaiming that the sectionsCompany breached his employment agreement. The agreement requires that any disputes be submitted to binding arbitration. The Company has insurance for these types of claims and has reported the request for arbitration to its insurance carrier. The Company believes it is probable that it will incur future costs in this matter and has accrued $100 thousand at (September) June 30, 2020, representing the amount of the Company’s responsibility for costs under the policy. See Litigation—APEG II Litigationand–Litigation with Former Chief Executive OfficerArbitration of Employment Claim inNote 89Commitments, Contingencies and Related-Party Transactionsin the Notes to the Financial Statements included in Part I, Item 1 of this report.

 

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

 

There have been no material changes from the risk factors previously disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, as filed with the SEC on March 30, 2020, under the heading “Item 1A. Risk Factors”, which are incorporated by reference herein, except as discussed below, and investors should review the risks provided in the Annual Report and below, prior to making an investment in the Company. The business, financial condition and operating results of the Company can be affected by a number of factors, whether currently known or unknown, including but not limited to those described in the Annual Report, under “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and below, any one or more of which could, directly or indirectly, cause the Company’s actual financial condition and operating results to vary materially from past, or from anticipated future, financial condition and operating results. Any of these factors, in whole or in part, could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results and stock price.

Risks Relating to Our Business:

Our success is dependent on the prices of oil and natural gas. Low oil or natural gas prices and the substantial volatility in these prices will adversely affect, 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 and natural gas heavily influence our revenue, profitability, cash flow available for capital expenditures, access to capital, and future rate of growth. Oil 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. We believe that prices for natural gas 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 and natural gas;
the domestic and foreign demand for oil and natural gas;
the prices and availability of competitors’ supplies of oil 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 and natural gas;
the impact of U.S. dollar exchange rates on oil and natural gas prices;
domestic and foreign governmental regulations and taxes;
speculative trading of oil and natural gas futures contracts;
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; 

weather conditions and natural disasters;
political conditions in or affecting oil and natural gas producing regions, including the Middle East and South America;
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 and natural gas inventories and exploration and production activity;
authorization of exports from the United States of liquefied natural gas;
the impact of energy conservation efforts;
technological advances affecting energy consumption; and
overall worldwide economic conditions.

Declines in oil or natural gas prices will reduce not only our revenue but also the amount of oil and natural gas that we, and the operators of our properties, can produce economically. Should natural gas or oil prices remain at current levels for an extended period, our wells, including our non-operated wells, may be forced to be shut-in, and we may be forced to delay some or all of our exploration and development plans for our prospects and cease exploration or development activities on certain prospects due to the anticipated unfavorable economics from such activities. As a smaller reporting company,result, we will 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. Due to the lower demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the oversupply of crude oil, spot and futures prices of crude oil fell to historic lows during the second quarter of 2020 and remain depressed. Operators in North Dakota’s Williston Basin responded by significantly decreasing drilling and completion activity and shutting in or curtailing production from a significant number of producing wells.

The operators of our Williston Basin wells recently temporarily shut-in such wells to preserve oil and gas reserves for production during a more favorable oil price environment, and while such wells have resumed production, our wells may again be shut-in, should market conditions significantly deteriorate.

In early March 2020, there was a global outbreak of COVID-19 that has resulted in a drastic decline in global demand of certain mineral and energy products including crude oil. As a result of the lower demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the oversupply of crude oil, spot and future prices of crude oil fell to historic lows during the second quarter of 2020 and remain depressed. Operators in North Dakota’s Williston Basin (including the operators of our wells) responded by significantly decreasing drilling and completion activity and shutting in or curtailing production from a significant number of producing wells. Operators decisions on these matters are changing rapidly and it is difficult to predict the future effects on the Company’s business. Lower oil and natural gas prices not only decrease our revenues, but an extended decline in oil or gas prices may materially and adversely affect our future business, financial position, cash flows, results of operations, liquidity, ability to finance planned capital expenditures and the oil and natural gas reserves that we can economically produce. While our producing wells are shut-in, we do not generate revenues from such wells, and would need to use our cash on hand and funds we receive from borrowings and the sale of equity in order to pay our operating expenses. A continued period of low-priced oil may make it non-economical for our wells to operate, which would have a material adverse effect on our operating results and the value of our assets. We cannot estimate the future price of oil, and as such cannot estimate, when our wells may again be shut-in by their operators.

Our business and operations have been adversely affected by, and are expected to continue to be adversely affected by, the COVID-19 pandemic, and may be adversely affected by other similar outbreaks.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or other adverse public health developments, including voluntary and mandatory quarantines, travel restrictions, and other restrictions, our operations, and those of our subcontractors, customers, and suppliers, have and are anticipated to continue to experience delays or disruptions and temporary suspensions of operations. In addition, our financial condition and results of operations have been and are likely to continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The timeline and potential magnitude of the COVID-19 outbreak are currently unknown. The continuation or amplification of this virus could continue to more broadly affect the United States and global economy, including our business and operations, and the demand for oil and gas. For example, the outbreak of coronavirus has resulted in a widespread health crisis that will adversely affect the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that will affect our operating results. Other contagious diseases in the human population could have similar adverse effects. In addition, the effects of COVID-19 and concerns regarding its global spread have recently negatively impacted the domestic and international demand for crude oil and natural gas, which has contributed to price volatility, impacted the price we receive for oil and natural gas, and has materially and adversely affected the demand for and marketability of our production, and is anticipated to continue to adversely affect the same for the foreseeable future. As the potential impact from COVID-19 is difficult to predict, the extent to which it will negatively affect our operating results, or the duration of any potential business disruption is uncertain. The magnitude and duration of any impact will depend on future developments and new information that may emerge regarding the severity and duration of COVID-19 and the actions taken by authorities to contain it or treat its impact, all of which are beyond our control. These potential impacts, while uncertain, have already negatively affected our first, second, and third-quarter results of operations, due both to decreases in the overall market prices of oil and gas and well shut-ins (provided that all wells previously shut-in during the second quarter are now back online) and are anticipated to have a negative impact on multiple future quarters’ results as well, as a result of various factors including potential further decreases in, or prolonged periods of decreased pricing in, oil and gas, potential further well shut-ins and the possible continued decline in global demand for oil and gas.

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We may be forced to write-down material portions of our assets if low oil prices continue.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an economic downturn resulting in lower oil prices, and the Company could be required to shut-in some or all of its production in the future should market conditions deteriorate. A continued period of low prices may force us to incur material write-downs of our oil and natural gas properties, which could have a material effect on the value of our properties, and cause the value of our securities to decline in value. For example, at June 30, 2020, we performed an impairment review resulting in the Company recording a ceiling test write-down of $1.8 million due to the effect lower crude oil prices had on the value of its proved reserves. In addition, the Company evaluated its unevaluated property at June 30, 2020, and recorded a reclassification to the depletable base of the full cost pool of $2.1 million related to a reduction in value of certain of its acreage. In the calculation of the ceiling test as of June 30, 2020, the Company used $47.17 per barrel for oil and $2.07 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) for natural gas (as further adjusted for differentials related to property, specific gravity, quality, local markets and distance from markets) to compute the future cash flows of the Company’s producing properties. The discount factor used was 10%. These prices represent the average of the first day of the month prices for oil and natural gas for each month in the twelve-month period ended June 30, 2020. At September 30, 2020, we performed another impairment review resulting in the Company recording a ceiling test write down of $1.1 million due to the effect lower crude oil prices had on the value of its proved reserves. In the calculation of the ceiling test as of September 30, 2020, the Company used $43.40 per barrel for oil and $1.97 per mcf for natural gas (as further adjusted for differentials related to property, specific gravity, quality, local markets and distance from markets) to compute the future cash flows of the Company’s producing properties. The discount factor used was 10%. These prices represent the average of first day of the month prices for oil and natural gas for each month in the twelve-month period ended September 30, 2020. If depressed prices for crude oil continue, it is likely that the Company will experience additional ceiling test write-downs in 2020 and 2021 as higher prices from earlier quarters in 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, used in the calculation of the average price, are replaced with the more recent lower priced quarters.

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 threat of pandemic diseases and the results thereof, energy costs, geopolitical issues, inflation, the availability and cost of credit, the United States mortgage market, and a declining real estate market in the United States have contributed to increased economic uncertainty and diminished expectations for the global economy. These factors, combined with volatile prices of oil and natural gas, declining business and consumer confidence, and increased unemployment, have precipitated an economic slowdown and a recession, which could expand to a global depression. Concerns about global economic growth have had a significant adverse impact on global financial markets and commodity prices and are expected to continue having a material adverse effect for the foreseeable future. If the economic climate in the United States or abroad continues to deteriorate, 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 than it has already.

Downturns and volatility in global economies and commodity and credit markets have materially adversely affected our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our results of operations are materially adversely affected by the conditions of the global economies and the credit, commodities, and stock markets. Among other things, we have recently been adversely impacted, and anticipate to continue to be adversely impacted, due to a global reduction in consumer demand for oil and gas, and consumer lack of access to sufficient capital to continue to operate their businesses or to operate them at prior levels. In addition, a decline in consumer confidence or changing patterns in the availability and use of disposable income by consumers can negatively affect the demand for oil and gas and as a result our results of operations.

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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 generally do not 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 the 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.

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. We do not currently have any hedges in place.

Stockholders may be diluted significantly through our efforts to obtain financing and satisfy obligations through the issuance of securities.

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 shares of our common stock, preferred stock, or warrants to purchase shares of our common stock. Our Board of Directors has authority, without action or vote of the stockholders,subject to the requirements of The NASDAQ Capital Market (which generally require shareholder approval for any transactions which would result in the issuance of more than 20% of our then outstanding shares of common stock or voting rights representing over 20% of our then outstanding shares of stock, subject to certain exceptions, including sales in a public offering and/or sales which are undertaken at or above the lower of the closing price immediately preceding the signing of the binding agreement or the average closing price for the five trading days preceding the signing of the binding agreement), to issue all or part of the authorized but unissued shares of common stock, preferred stock or warrants to purchase such shares of common stock. In addition, we may attempt to raise capital by selling shares of our common stock, possibly at a discount to market in the future. These actions will result in dilution of the ownership interests of existing stockholders and 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 us, because the shares may be issued to parties or entities committed to supporting existing management.

If persons engage in short sales of our common stock, including sales of shares to be issued upon exercise of our outstanding warrants, the price of our common stock may decline.

Selling short is a technique used by a shareholder to take advantage of an anticipated decline in the price of a security. In addition, holders of options and warrants will sometimes sell short knowing they can, in effect, cover through the exercise of an option or warrant, thus locking in a profit. A significant number of short sales or a large volume of other sales within a relatively short period of time can create downward pressure on the market price of a security. Further sales of common stock issued upon exercise of our outstanding warrants could cause even greater declines in the price of our common stock due to the number of additional shares available in the market upon such exercise, which could encourage short sales that could further undermine the value of our common stock. Stockholders could, therefore, experience a decline in the values of their investment as a result of short sales of our common stock.

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Our business has been and may continue to be impacted by adverse commodity prices.

The price of crude oil has experienced significant volatility over the last five years, including dropping below $0 per barrel in April 2020, due in part to reduced global demand stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and oversupply, provided that pricing has since increased to around $35-$40 per barrel as of the filing of this prospectus. 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 the Company’s business, financial condition and liquidity and its 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 the Company’s stock price and indebtedness. Additionally, lower oil and natural gas prices have, and may in the future, cause, a decline in the Company’s stock price. During the year ended December 31, 2019, the daily Cushing, Oklahoma West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) oil spot price ranged from a high of $66.24 per barrel (Bbl) to a low of $46.31 per Bbl and the NYMEX natural gas Henry Hub spot price ranged from a high of $4.25 per one million British Thermal Units (MMBtu) to a low of $1.75 per MMBtu. During the nine months ended September 30, 2020, the daily Cushing, Oklahoma WTI oil spot price ranged from a high of $63.27 per Bbl to a low of $(36.98) per Bbl in April 2020 and the NYMEX natural gas Henry Hub spot price ranged from a high of $2.57 per MMBtu to a low of $1.33 per MMBtu.

We believe that the global markets, in reaction to general economic conditions and perceived impacts of future global supply, have caused large fluctuations in price, and we believe significant future price swings are likely. We believe that natural gas prices and NGL prices have experienced volatility of comparable magnitude over the same period. Volatility in the prices we receive for our oil and natural gas production have and may continue to adversely affect many aspects of our business, including our financial condition, revenues, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, reserves, rate of growth, and the carrying value of our oil and natural gas properties, all of which depend primarily or in part upon those prices. The reduction in drilling activity will likely result in lower production and, together with lower realized oil prices, lower revenue, and lower net income or a higher net loss. Declines in the prices we receive for our oil and natural gas can also adversely affect our ability to finance capital expenditures, make acquisitions, raise capital, and satisfy our financial obligations. In addition, declines in prices can reduce the amount of oil and natural gas that we can produce economically and the estimated future cash flow from that production and, as a result, adversely affect the quantity and the present value of our proved reserves. Among other things, a reduction in the amount or present value of our reserves can limit the capital available to us, and the availability of other sources of capital likely will be based to a significant degree on the estimated quantity and value of the reserves.

Warrants we have granted include anti-dilutive rights.

Currently we have outstanding warrants to purchase 50,000 shares of common stock with an exercise price of $5.25 per share, which are subject to “full ratchet” anti-dilution in the event the Company issues additional common stock or common stock equivalents at a price per share less than the exercise price in effect, subject to a floor of $3.92 per share, during the term of the warrants (through June 21, 2022). Specifically, if, while the warrants are outstanding, we issue or are deemed to have issued (which includes shares issuable upon exercise of warrants and options and conversion of convertible securities) securities for consideration less than the then-current exercise price of the warrants, subject to certain excepted issuances, the exercise price of such warrants is automatically reduced to the lowest price per share of the consideration provided or deemed to have been provided for such securities.

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Risks Relating to our Securities:

We currently have an unlimited number of shares of common stock authorized and there may be future issuances or sales of our common stock, which could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and dilute a shareholder’s ownership of common stock.

The exercise of (a) any options granted to executive officers and other employees under our equity compensation plans and (b) of any warrants and other issuances of our common stock could have an adverse effect on the market price of the shares of our common stock. Additionally, other than the restrictions in connection with our recent securities offerings (namely, a customary lock-up prohibiting us from issuing additional securities through the 180th day following the closing of our November 2020 underwritten offering) we are not requiredrestricted from issuing additional shares of common stock, including any securities that are convertible into or exchangeable for, or that represent the right to providereceive shares of common stock, and currently have an unlimited number of authorized shares of common stock, provided that we are subject to the informationrequirements of The NASDAQ Capital Market (which generally requires shareholder approval for any transactions which would result in the issuance of more than 20% of our then outstanding shares of common stock or voting rights representing over 20% of our then outstanding shares of stock). Issuances of a substantial number of shares of our common stock and/or sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that such issuances or sales might occur could materially adversely affect the market price of the shares of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in the future, including in connection with any future offering, will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of our future issuances or offerings. Accordingly, our stockholders bear the risk that our future issuances and/or offerings will reduce the market price of our common stock and dilute their stock holdings in us.

Our stock price has historically been and is likely to continue to be, volatile.

Our stock is traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market under this Item.the symbol “USEG”. During the last 52 weeks, our common stock has traded as high as $18.57 per share and as low as $2.44 per share. We expect our common stock will continue to be subject to wide fluctuations as a result of a variety of factors, including factors beyond our control. These factors include:

price volatility in the oil and natural gas commodities markets;
variations in our drilling, recompletion, and operating activity;
relatively small amounts of our common stock trading on any given day;
additions or departures of key personnel;
legislative and regulatory changes; and
changes in the national and global economic outlook.

The stock market has recently experienced significant price and volume fluctuations, and oil and natural gas prices have declined significantly. These fluctuations have particularly affected the market prices of securities of oil and natural gas companies like ours.

 

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

 

NoneThere have been no sales of unregistered securities during the quarter ended September 30, 2020, and from the period from October 1, 2020, to the filing date of this Report, which have not previously been disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

 

Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities.

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

 

Not applicable.

 

Item 5. Other Information.

 

Not applicable.

Item 6. Exhibits

2.1**Mt. Emmons Mining Company Acquisition Agreement (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 2.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed February 12, 2016)
3.1**Restated Articles of Incorporation (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-3, [333-162607] filed October 21, 2009)
3.2**Amended and Restated Bylaws, dated as of August 5, 2019 (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed August 9, 2019)
3.3**Certificate of Designation for Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed February 12, 2016)
3.4**Articles of Amendment to Restated Articles of Incorporation (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed June 21, 2016)
4.1**Common Stock Purchase Warrant (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Report on Form 8-K filed December 22, 2016)
4.2**Standstill Agreement, dated September 28, 2017, by and between U.S. Energy Corp. and APEG Energy II, L.P. (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed October 5, 2017)
10.1**†USE 2001 Officers’ Stock Compensation Plan (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.21 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed September 13, 2002)
10.2**†2001 Incentive Stock Option Plan (amended in 2003) (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.2 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed April 15, 2005)
10.3**2008 Stock Option Plan for Independent Directors and Advisory Board Members (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.3 to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 13, 2009)
10.4**†U.S. Energy Corp. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s S-8 filed April 13, 2012)
10.5**†Amended and Restated 2012 Equity and Performance Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference from Appendix A to the Company’s Proxy Statement on Form DEF14A filed April 28, 2015)
10.5.1**Form of Grant to the 2012 Equity and Performance Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.5.1 to the Form 10-K filed March 18, 2013)
10.6(a)** †Executive Employment Agreement – David Veltri (effective 10-23-15) (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.2 to the Form 10-Q filed August 15, 2016)
10.6(b)**†Executive Employment Agreement – Ryan Smith (effective 11-21-18) (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed November 27, 2018)
10.6(c)** †Agreement and Release by and among U.S. Energy Corp., Stephen Conrad, Thomas Bandy, Jerry Danni, James Fraser, and Leo Heath dated October 18, 2017 (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.8(h) to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 28, 2018)
10.6(d)**†Form of Option Agreement between U.S. Energy Corp. and its directors (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.8(i) to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 28, 2018)
10.6(e)** †Form of Incentive Option Agreement between U.S. Energy Corp. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.8(j) to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 28, 2018)
10.6(f)** †Form of Indemnity Agreement between U.S. Energy Corp. and its directors and officers (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.8(k) to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed March 28, 2018)
10.7**Series A Convertible Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed February 12, 2016)
10.8**Investor Rights Agreement (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.2 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed February 12, 2016)

10.9**Securities Purchase Agreement dated as of December 16, 2016 (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Report on Form 8-K filed December 22, 2016)
10.10**Purchase and Sale Agreement, dated October 3, 2017, by and among U.S. Energy Corp., Energy One LLC and Statoil Oil and Gas LP (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed October 10, 2017)
10.11**Exchange Agreement, dated September 28, 2017, by and among U.S. Energy Corp., Energy One LLC, and APEG Energy II, L.P. (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed October 5, 2017)
10.12**Form of Common Stock Sales Agreement by and between U.S. Energy Corp. and Northland Securities Inc., dated January 5, 2018 (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 1.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed January 5, 2018)
10.13Final Release and Settlement Agreement among U.S. Energy Corp. and Energy One, LLC, and APEG Energy II, LP, APEG Energy II GP, LLC and John Hoffman, dated May 22, 2019 (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed on May 24, 2019)
14.1**Code of Ethics and Conduct (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 14.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed August 5, 2019)
31.1*Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes – Oxley Act of 2002
31.2*Certification of principal financial officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes – Oxley Act of 2002
32.1*♦Certification under Rule 13a-14(b) of Chief Executive Officer
32.2*♦Certification under Rule 13a-14(b) of Chief Financial Officer
101.INSXBRL Instance Document
101.SCHXBRL Schema Document
101.CALXBRL Calculation Linkbase Document
101.DEFXBRL Definition Linkbase Document
101.LABXBRL Label Linkbase Document
101.PREXBRL Presentation Linkbase Document

* Filed herewith.

** Previously Filed

† Exhibit constitutes a management contract or compensatory plan or agreement.

♦ In accordance with SEC Release 33-8238, Exhibits 32.1 and 32.2 are being furnished and not filed.

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

 

 U.S. ENERGY CORP. (Registrant)
   
Date: November 14, 201916, 2020By:/s/ Ryan L. Smith
  

RYAN L. SMITH, Chief FinancialExecutive Officer and principal accounting officerChief

Financial Officer

(Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial/Accounting Officer)

EXHIBIT INDEX

    Incorporated by Reference  
Exhibit
No.
 Description Form File No. Exhibit 

Filing

Date

 Filed/Furnished
Herewith
1.1 Placement Agency Agreement, dated September 29, 2020, between the Company and Kingswood Capital Markets, a division of Benchmark Investments, Inc. 8-K 000-06814 1.1 October 2, 2020  
1.2 

Form of Underwriting Agreement dated November 10, 2020 by and between U.S. Energy Corp and Kingswood Capital Markets, division of Benchmark Investments, Inc.

 S-1/A  333-249738 

1.2 

 
 November 10, 2020  
3.1 Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation 10-K 000-06814 3.1 March 30, 2020  
3.2 Certificate of Designation for Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (incorporated by reference from Exhibit A to Exhibit 3.1) 10-K 000-06814 3.1 March 30, 2020  
3.3 Amended and Restated Bylaws, dated as of August 5, 2019 8-K 000-06814 3.2 August 9, 2019  
10.1 Membership Interest Purchase Agreement dated March 1, 2020 by and among U.S. Energy Corp, as Buyer, and Donald A. Kessel and Robert B. Foss, as Sellers 8-K 000-06814 10.1 March 5, 2020  
#10.2 Asset Purchase Agreement dated September 25, 2020, by and among U.S. Energy Corp, as Buyer, and Mr. Randolph N. Osherow, as Chapter 7 trustee in the Bankruptcy Case of FieldPoint Petroleum Corporation S-1 333-249738 10.16 October 30, 2020  
10.3 $375,000 Secured Promissory Note dated September 24, 2020 entered into by U.S. Energy Corp., to evidence amounts owed to APEG Energy II, L.P. S-1 333-249738 10.17 October 30, 2020  
#10.4 Form of Securities Purchase Agreement, dated September 30, 2020, by and between the Company and the Purchasers thereunder 8-K 000-06814 10.1 October 2, 2020  
10.5† Form of Lock-Up Agreements for September 2020 Offering 8-K 000-06814 10.2 October 2, 2020  
#10.6 Purchase and Sale Agreement dated November 9, 2020, by and among New Horizon Resources LLC, as Buyer, and Newbridge Resources LLC as Seller 8-K 000-06814 10.1 November 9, 2020  
31.1* Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes – Oxley Act of 2002         X
32.1♦ Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer under Rule 13a-14(b)         X
101.INS XBRL Instance Document         X
101.SCH XBRL Schema Document         X
101.CAL XBRL Calculation Linkbase Document         X
101.DEF XBRL Definition Linkbase Document         X
101.LAB XBRL Label Linkbase Document         X
101.PRE XBRL Presentation Linkbase Document         X

 

*U.S. ENERGY CORP. (Registrant)Filed herewith.
  
Date: November 14, 2019By:/s/ C. Randel LewisExhibit constitutes a management contract or compensatory plan or agreement.
  
C. RANDEL LEWIS, Interim Chief Executive Officer#Certain schedules, annexes, and principal executive officersimilar attachments have been omitted pursuant to Item 601(a)(5) of Regulation S-K. A copy of any omitted schedule or exhibit will be furnished supplementally to the Securities and Exchange Commission upon request; provided, however, that U.S. Energy Corp. may request confidential treatment pursuant to Rule 24b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, for any schedule or exhibit so furnished.
In accordance with SEC Release 33-8238, Exhibit 32.1 is being furnished and not

47