Long-Term Debt

Senior unsecured notes. On September 24, 2013, the Company issued $1,000.0 million of 6.875% senior unsecured notes due March 15, 2022 (the “2022 Notes”). The issuance of the 2022 Notes resulted in aggregate net proceeds to the Company of $983.6 million. The Company used the proceeds from the 2022 Notes to fund the West Williston Acquisition (see Note 6 — Acquisitions).

On June 30, 2014, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC to allow the holders of the 2022 Notes to exchange the 2022 Notes for the same principal amount of a new issue of notes with substantially identical terms, except the new notes are freely transferable under the Securities Act. The registration statement was declared effective on July 16, 2014, and the Company closed the exchange offer on August 15, 2014.

During 2011 and 2012, the Company issued $400.0 million of 7.25% senior unsecured notes due February 1, 2019 (the “2019 Notes”), $400.0 million of 6.5% senior unsecured notes due November 1, 2021 (the “2021 Notes”) and $400.0 million of 6.875% senior unsecured notes due January 15, 2023 (the “2023 Notes”), which resulted in aggregate net proceeds to the Company of $1,175.8 million. The Company has used the proceeds from these notes to fund its exploration, development and acquisition program and for general corporate purposes. Interest on the 2019 Notes, the 2021 Notes, the 2022 Notes and the 2023 Notes (collectively, the “Notes”) is payable semi-annually in arrears.

The Notes were issued under indentures containing provisions that are substantially the same, as amended and supplemented by supplemental indentures (collectively the “Indentures”), among the Company, along with its material subsidiaries (the “Guarantors”), and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (the “Trustee”). The Notes are guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by the Company’s Guarantors. These guarantees are full and unconditional and joint and several among the Guarantors, subject to certain customary release provisions, as follows:


•	in connection with any sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of the assets of that Guarantor (including by way of merger or consolidation) to a person that is not (either before or after giving effect to such transaction) the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary (as defined in the Indentures) of the Company;

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in connection with any sale or other disposition of the capital stock of that Guarantor (including by way of merger or consolidation) to a person that is not (either before or after giving effect to such transaction) the Company or a Restricted Subsidiary of the Company, such that, immediately after giving effect to such transaction, such Guarantor would no longer constitute a subsidiary of the Company;


•	if the Company designates any Restricted Subsidiary that is a Guarantor to be an unrestricted subsidiary in accordance with the Indenture;


•	upon legal defeasance or satisfaction and discharge of the Indenture; or


•	upon the liquidation or dissolution of a Guarantor, provided no event of default occurs under the Indentures as a result thereof.

Prior to certain dates, the Company has certain options to redeem up to 35% of the Notes at a certain redemption price based on a percentage of the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date, with the proceeds of certain equity offerings so long as the redemption occurs within 180 days of completing such equity offering and at least 65% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes remains outstanding after such redemption. Prior to certain dates, the Company has the option to redeem some or all of the Notes for cash at certain redemption prices equal to a certain percentage of their principal amount plus an applicable make-whole premium and accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. The Company estimates that the fair value of these options is immaterial at December 31, 2014 and 2013.

The Indentures restrict the Company’s ability and the ability of certain of its subsidiaries to: (i) incur additional debt or enter into sale and leaseback transactions; (ii) pay distributions on, redeem or repurchase equity interests; (iii) make certain investments; (iv) incur liens; (v) enter into transactions with affiliates; (vi) merge or consolidate with another company; and (vii) transfer and sell assets. These covenants are subject to certain exceptions and qualifications. If at any time when the Notes are rated investment grade by both Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and no Default (as defined in the Indentures) has occurred and is continuing, many of such covenants will terminate and the Company and its subsidiaries will cease to be subject to such covenants.

The Indentures contain customary events of default, including:


•	default in any payment of interest on any Note when due, continued for 30 days;


•	default in the payment of principal or premium, if any, on any Note when due;


•	failure by the Company to comply with its other obligations under the Indentures, in certain cases subject to notice and grace periods;


•	payment defaults and accelerations with respect to other indebtedness of the Company and its Restricted Subsidiaries in the aggregate principal amount of $10.0 million or more;


•	certain events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization of the Company or a Significant Subsidiary (as defined in the Indentures) or group of Restricted Subsidiaries that, taken together, would constitute a Significant Subsidiary;


•	failure by the Company or any Significant Subsidiary or group of Restricted Subsidiaries that, taken together, would constitute a Significant Subsidiary to pay certain final judgments aggregating in excess of $10.0 million within 60 days; and


•	any guarantee of the Notes by a Guarantor ceases to be in full force and effect, is declared null and void in a judicial proceeding or is denied or disaffirmed by its maker.

Senior secured revolving line of credit. On April 5, 2013, the Company, as parent, and OPNA, as borrower, entered into a second amended and restated credit agreement (the “Second Amended Credit Facility”), which has a maturity date of April 5, 2018. The Second Amended Credit Facility is restricted to the borrowing base, which is reserve-based and subject to semi-annual redeterminations on April 1 and October 1 of each year. On March 27, 2014, the lenders under the Second Amended Credit Facility (the “Lenders”) completed their regular semi-annual redetermination of the borrowing base scheduled for April 1, 2014, resulting in an increase to the borrowing base from $1,500.0 million to $1,750.0 million, and on September 30, 2014, the Lenders completed their regular semi-annual redetermination of the borrowing base scheduled for October 1, 2014, resulting in an increase to the borrowing base from $1,750.0 million to $2,000.0 million. However, the Company elected to limit the Lenders’ aggregate commitment to $1,500.0 million. The overall senior secured line of credit under our Second Amended Credit Facility is $2,500.0 million as of December 31, 2014.

Borrowings under the Second Amended Credit Facility are collateralized by perfected first priority liens and security interests on substantially all of the Company’s assets, including mortgage liens on oil and natural gas properties having at least 80% of the reserve value as determined by reserve reports.

Borrowings under the Second Amended Credit Facility are subject to varying rates of interest based on (1) the total outstanding borrowings (including the value of all outstanding letters of credit) in relation to the borrowing base and (2) whether the loan is a London interbank offered rate (“LIBOR”) loan or a domestic bank prime interest rate loan (defined in the Second Amended Credit Facility as an Alternate Based Rate or “ABR” loan). As of December 31, 2014, any outstanding LIBOR and ABR loans would have borne their respective interest rates plus the applicable margin indicated in the following table:



Ratio of Total Outstanding Borrowings to Borrowing Base	Applicable Margin for LIBOR Loans		Applicable Margin for ABR Loans
Less than .25 to 1	1.50	%	0.00	%
Greater than or equal to .25 to 1 but less than .50 to 1	1.75	%	0.25	%
Greater than or equal to .50 to 1 but less than .75 to 1	2.00	%	0.50	%
Greater than or equal to .75 to 1 but less than .90 to 1	2.25	%	0.75	%
Greater than or equal to .90 to 1	2.50	%	1.00	%

An ABR loan may be repaid at any time before the scheduled maturity of the Second Amended Credit Facility upon the Company providing advance notification to the Lenders. Interest is paid quarterly on ABR loans based on the number of days an ABR loan is outstanding as of the last business day in March, June, September and December. The Company has the option to convert an ABR loan to a LIBOR-based loan upon providing advance notification to the Lenders. The minimum available loan term is one month and the maximum available loan term is six months for LIBOR-based loans. Interest for LIBOR loans is paid upon maturity of the loan term. Interim interest is paid every three months for LIBOR loans that have loan terms greater than three months. At the end of a LIBOR loan term, the Second Amended Credit Facility allows the Company to elect to repay the borrowing, continue a LIBOR loan with the same or differing loan term or convert the borrowing to an ABR loan.

On a quarterly basis, the Company also pays a 0.375% (as of December 31, 2014) annualized commitment fee on the average amount of borrowing base capacity not utilized during the quarter and fees calculated on the average amount of letter of credit balances outstanding during the quarter.

As of December 31, 2014, the Second Amended Credit Facility contained covenants that included, among others:


•	a prohibition against incurring debt, subject to permitted exceptions;


•	a prohibition against making dividends, distributions and redemptions, subject to permitted exceptions;


•	a prohibition against making investments, loans and advances, subject to permitted exceptions;


•	restrictions on creating liens and leases on the assets of the Company and its subsidiaries, subject to permitted exceptions;


•	restrictions on merging and selling assets outside the ordinary course of business;


•	restrictions on use of proceeds, investments, transactions with affiliates or change of principal business;


•	a provision limiting oil and natural gas derivative financial instruments;


•	a requirement that the Company maintain a ratio of consolidated EBITDAX (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Facility) to consolidated Interest Expense (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Facility) of no less than 2.5 to 1.0 for the four quarters ended on the last day of each quarter; and

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a requirement that the Company maintain a Current Ratio (as defined in the Second Amended Credit Facility) of consolidated current assets (including unused borrowing base committed capacity and with exclusions as described in the Second Amended Credit Facility) to consolidated current liabilities (with exclusions as described in the Second Amended Credit Facility) of no less than 1.0 to 1.0 as of the last day of any fiscal quarter.

The Second Amended Credit Facility contains customary events of default. If an event of default occurs and is continuing, the Lenders may declare all amounts outstanding under the Second Amended Credit Facility to be immediately due and payable.

As of December 31, 2014, the Company had $500.0 million of borrowings and $5.2 million of outstanding letters of credit issued under the Second Amended Credit Facility, resulting in an unused borrowing base capacity of $994.8 million. As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, the weighted average interest rate on borrowings under the Second Amended Credit Facility was 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively. The Company was in compliance with the financial covenants of the Second Amended Credit Facility as of December 31, 2014.

The Company has indebtedness under the Second Amended Credit Facility that becomes due in 2018 and $400.0 million of Notes maturing in 2019. The Company does not have any other debt that matures within the five years ending December 31, 2019.

Deferred financing costs. As of December 31, 2014, the Company had $35.5 million of deferred financing costs related to the Notes and the Second Amended Credit Facility. The deferred financing costs are included in deferred costs and other assets on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2014 and are being amortized over the respective terms of the Notes and the Second Amended Credit Facility. Amortization of deferred financing costs recorded for the year ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 was $6.4 million, $4.5 million and $3.0 million, respectively. These costs are included in interest expense on the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Operations.