XML 34 R11.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT
v3.24.3

Leases | 12 Months Ended
--- | ---
Sep. 30, 2024
Leases [Abstract] |
Leases | Leases The Company follows authoritative guidance regarding lease accounting, which requires entities that lease the use of property, plant and equipment to recognize on the balance sheet the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by all leases, including leases classified as operating leases. The Company has elected to apply the following practical expedients provided in the authoritative guidance: 1.An election not to apply the recognition requirements in the authoritative guidance to short-term leases (a lease that at commencement date has a lease term of one year or less); 2.A practical expedient that permits combining lease and non-lease components in a contract and accounting for the combination as a lease (elected by asset-class). Nature of Leases The Company primarily leases building space and drilling rigs, and on a limited basis, compressor equipment and other miscellaneous assets. The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at the inception of the arrangement. To the extent that an arrangement represents a lease, the Company classifies that lease as an operating or a finance lease in accordance with the authoritative guidance. The Company did not have any material finance leases as of September 30, 2024 or September 30, 2023. The Company also does not have any material arrangements where the Company is the lessor. Buildings and Property The Company enters into building and property rental agreements with third parties for office space, certain field locations and other properties used in the Company’s operations. Building and property leases include the Company’s corporate headquarters in Williamsville, New York, and Exploration and Production segment offices in Houston, Texas, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The primary non-cancelable terms of the Company’s building and property leases range from ten months to fifteen years. Most building leases include one or more options to renew, generally at the Company’s sole discretion, with renewal terms that can extend the lease terms from one year to sixteen years. Renewal options are included in the lease term if they are reasonably certain to be exercised. The agreements do not contain any material restrictive covenants. Drilling Rigs The Company enters into contracts for drilling rig services with third party contractors to support Seneca’s development activities in Pennsylvania. Seneca’s drilling rig arrangements are structured with a non-cancelable primary term of one year or less. Upon mutual agreement with the contractor, Seneca has the option to extend contracts with amended terms and conditions, including a renegotiated day rate fee. Drilling rig lease costs are capitalized as part of natural gas properties on the Consolidated Balance Sheet when incurred. Compressor Equipment The Company enters into contracts for compressor services with third parties primarily to support its gathering system in Pennsylvania. The primary non-cancelable terms of the Company’s compressor equipment leases range from 2 months to 5 years. Most compressor equipment leases include one or more options to renew or to continue past the primary term on a month-to-month basis, generally at the Company’s sole discretion. Renewal options are included in the lease term if they are reasonably certain to be exercised. Significant Judgments Lease Identification The Company uses judgment when determining whether or not an arrangement is or contains a lease. A contract is or contains a lease if the contract conveys the right to use an explicitly or implicitly identified asset that is physically distinct and the Company has the right to control the use of the identified asset for a period of time. When determining right of control, the Company evaluates whether it directs the use of the asset and obtains substantially all of the economic benefits from the use of the asset. Discount Rate The Company uses a discount rate to calculate the present value of lease payments in order to determine lease classification and measurement of the lease asset and liability. In the absence of a rate of interest that is readily determinable in the contract, the Company estimates the incremental borrowing rate (IBR) for each lease. The IBR reflects the rate of interest that the Company would pay on the lease commencement date to borrow an amount equal to the lease payments on a collateralized basis over a similar term in similar economic environments. Firm Transportation and Storage Contracts The Company’s subsidiaries enter into long-term arrangements to both reserve firm transportation capacity on third party pipelines and provide firm transportation and storage services to third party shippers. The Company’s firm capacity contracts with third party shippers do not provide rights to use substantially all of the underlying pipeline or storage asset. As such, the Company has concluded that these arrangements are not leases under the authoritative guidance. Gas Leases The authoritative guidance does not apply to leases to explore for or use natural gas resources, including the right to explore for those resources and rights to use the land in which those resources are contained. As such, the Company has concluded that its gas exploration and production leases and gas storage leases are not leases under the authoritative guidance. Amounts Recognized in the Financial Statements Operating lease costs, excluding those relating to drilling rig leases that are capitalized as part of exploration and production properties under the full cost method of accounting as well as certain equipment leases related to construction projects, are presented in Operations and Maintenance expense on the Consolidated Statement of Income. The following table summarizes the components of the Company’s total operating lease costs (in thousands):
| Year Ended September 30
| 2024 |  | 2023
Operating Lease Expense | $ | 11,827 |  |  | $ | 7,484 |
Variable Lease Expense(1) | 601 |  |  | 507 |
Short-Term Lease Expense(2) | 299 |  |  | 1,694 |
Total Lease Expense | $ | 12,727 |  |  | $ | 9,685 |
Lease Costs Recorded to Property, Plant and Equipment(3) | $ | 20,143 |  |  | $ | 24,018 |
(1)Variable lease payments that are not dependent on an index or rate are not included in the lease liability. (2)Short-term lease costs exclude expenses related to leases with a lease term of one month or less. (3)Lease costs relating to drilling rig leases that are capitalized as part of exploration and production properties under full cost pool accounting as well as certain equipment leases used on construction projects. Right-of-use assets and lease liabilities are recognized at the commencement date of a leasing arrangement based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. The weighted average remaining lease term was 5.7 years and 6.1 years as of September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The weighted average discount rate was 5.68% and 5.48% as of September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The Company’s right-of-use operating lease assets are reflected as Deferred Charges on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The corresponding operating lease liabilities are reflected in Other Accruals and Current Liabilities (current) and Other Liabilities (noncurrent). Short-term leases that have a lease term of one year or less are not recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The following amounts related to operating leases were recorded on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet (in thousands):
| Year Ended September 30
| 2024 |  | 2023
Assets: |  |  |
Deferred Charges | $ | 44,206 |  |  | $ | 39,664 |
Liabilities: |  |  |
Other Accruals and Current Liabilities | $ | 11,518 |  |  | $ | 9,969 |
Other Liabilities | $ | 32,616 |  |  | $ | 29,510 |
Cash paid for lease liabilities, reported in cash provided by operating activities on the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, was $12.7 million and $9.7 million for the years ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The Company did not record any right-of-use assets in exchange for new lease liabilities during the years ended September 30, 2024 or 2023. The following schedule of operating lease liability maturities summarizes the undiscounted lease payments owed by the Company to lessors pursuant to contractual agreements in effect as of September 30, 2024 (in thousands):
| At September 30, 2024
2025 | $ | 11,801 |
2026 | 9,653 |
2027 | 8,880 |
2028 | 7,707 |
2029 | 4,478 |
Thereafter | 9,234 |
Total Lease Payments | 51,753 |
Less: Interest | (7,619) |
Total Lease Liability | $ | 44,134 |

X
- References No definition available. + Details
Name: | us-gaap_LeasesAbstract
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration

X
- Definition The entire disclosure for operating leases of lessee. Includes, but is not limited to, description of operating lease and maturity analysis of operating lease liability. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef -Topic 842 -SubTopic 20 -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Publisher FASB -URI https://asc.fasb.org/842-20/tableOfContent + Details
Name: | us-gaap_LesseeOperatingLeasesTextBlock
Namespace Prefix: | us-gaap_
Data Type: | dtr-types:textBlockItemType
Balance Type: | na
Period Type: | duration