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BASIS OF PRESENTATION
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation BASIS OF PRESENTATION

We are an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company operating properties exclusively within California. We were incorporated in Delaware and became a publicly traded company on December 1, 2014. Except when the context otherwise requires or where otherwise indicated, all references to ‘‘CRC,’’ the ‘‘Company,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to California Resources Corporation and its subsidiaries.

Ability to Continue as a Going Concern

Our liquidity and ability to meet our debt obligations have been negatively impacted by the sharp decrease in commodity prices as a result of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and by the actions of foreign producers. Our primary sources of liquidity and capital resources are cash flow from operations and available borrowing capacity under our Credit Agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain other lenders (2014 Revolving Credit Facility). As of March 31, 2020, we had available liquidity of $395 million, consisting of $67 million in unrestricted cash and $328 million of available borrowing capacity under our 2014 Revolving Credit Facility (before a $150 million month-end minimum liquidity requirement). On April 30, 2020, our 2014 Revolving Credit Facility was amended to reduce the limit on our revolving credit facility from $1 billion to $900 million, among other things. Our ability to borrow under our 2014 Revolving Credit Facility is limited by our ability to comply with its covenants, including quarterly financial covenants, and by our borrowing base. Pursuant to a semi-annual borrowing base redetermination, our borrowing base was reduced from $2.3 billion to $1.2 billion effective as of May 18, 2020, with no further reduction in our ability to borrow under the 2014 Revolving Credit Facility. As of May 31, 2020, we had available liquidity of $165 million, consisting of $148 million in unrestricted cash and $17 million of available borrowing capacity under our 2014 Revolving Credit Facility (before a $150 million month-end minimum liquidity requirement). However, the Forbearance Agreements do not permit us to make any drawings under the 2014 Revolving Credit Facility until the expiration of the forbearance period described below. We expect that operating cash flow and expected available credit capacity will not be sufficient to meet our commitments over the next twelve months.

Our spin–off from Occidental Petroleum Corporation (Occidental) in December 2014 burdened us with significant debt which was used to pay a $6 billion cash dividend to Occidental. Together with the activity level and payables that we assumed from Occidental and due to Occidental's retention of a vast majority of receivables, our debt peaked at approximately $6.8 billion in May 2015. Since then, we have engaged in a series of assets sales, joint ventures, debt exchanges, tenders and other financing transactions to reduce our overall debt and improve our balance sheet. As of March 31, 2020, we had reduced outstanding debt to approximately $4.9 billion, a substantial portion of which will mature in 2021. Our significant indebtedness, the unprecedented impact to our financial position resulting from commodity price decreases due to the COVID–19 pandemic and actions of foreign producers, and the continued challenging conditions in the credit and capital markets raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. As discussed further below, we are actively discussing the terms of a restructuring with our creditors and other stakeholders with the objective of enabling us to continue operations better positioned to capitalize on our asset base and operating capabilities.

On February 20, 2020, we launched offers to exchange a significant portion of our Second Lien Notes and our 5.5% Senior Notes due 2021 (2021 Notes) and 6% Senior Notes due 2024 (2024 Notes) into interests in an entity that would hold a term royalty interest in certain of our oil and natural gas assets or new term loans and warrants to purchase our common stock. If the offers were fully subscribed, we expected that the transactions would have reduced our net debt by approximately $1 billion if successfully completed. On March 16, 2020, we announced the termination of the offers as a result of developments in the commodity and financial markets at that time that rendered the offers inadvisable and impractical.

On May 15, 2020, we did not make an interest payment of approximately $4.3 million on our 2024 Notes. The indenture governing the 2024 Notes provides for a 30-day grace period and the payment was made on June 12, 2020.

On May 29, 2020, we did not pay approximately $51 million in the aggregate of interest due under (i) our $1.3 billion credit agreement with The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain other lenders (2017 Credit Agreement), and (ii) our $1 billion credit agreement with The Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain other lenders (2016 Credit Agreement). Our failure to make those interest payments constituted events of default under the 2017 Credit Agreement, 2016 Credit Agreement and, as a result of cross default, under the 2014 Revolving Credit Facility.

On June 2, 2020, we entered into forbearance agreements (Forbearance Agreements) with (i) certain lenders of a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the loans under the 2014 Revolving Credit Facility, (ii) certain lenders of a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the loans under the 2016 Credit Agreement, and (iii) certain lenders of a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the loans under the 2017 Credit Agreement. Pursuant to the Forbearance Agreements, the lenders who are parties to the Forbearance Agreements agreed to forbear from exercising any remedies under the 2014 Revolving Credit Facility, 2016 Credit Agreement and 2017 Credit Agreement with respect to our failure to make the aforementioned interest payments, through the earlier of June 14, 2020 or an event of termination as set forth in the Forbearance Agreements. On June 12, 2020, we amended the Forbearance Agreements to extend the forbearance period to June 30, 2020. The Forbearance Agreements include a requirement that we maintain an aggregate book cash balance of not less than $40 million for more than three consecutive business days.

On June 15, 2020, we did not make an interest payment of approximately $72.3 million on our 8% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes due 2022 (Second Lien Notes). The indenture governing the Second Lien Notes (Second Lien Notes Indenture) provides for a 30-day grace period, which will expire on July 15, 2020. A failure to pay the interest within the 30-day grace period would constitute an event of default under the Second Lien Notes Indenture and cross defaults under our other debt instruments and agreements.

We are actively discussing the terms of a restructuring with our creditors and other stakeholders with the objective of reaching an agreement before the forbearance period under the Forbearance Agreements expires on June 30, 2020. There can be no assurances that an agreement regarding a restructuring will be reached by the end of the forbearance period or at all or that we will be able to successfully restructure our indebtedness. In addition, no assurances can be given as to what values, if any, will be ascribed to each of our securities or what type or amounts of distributions, if any, our various stakeholders would receive in any restructuring. Any restructuring could result in holders of certain liabilities and/or securities, including common stock, receiving no distribution on account of their claims or interest. See Part II, Item 1A Risk Factors, below for further discussion regarding risks related to our ability to continue as a going concern.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming we will continue as a going concern. These financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of a going concern uncertainty. If we cannot continue as a going concern, adjustments to the carrying values and classification of assets and liabilities and the reported amounts of income and expenses could be required and could be material.

In the opinion of our management, the accompanying unaudited financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary to fairly present our financial position as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019 and the statements of operations, comprehensive loss, equity and cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, as applicable. We have eliminated all significant intercompany transactions and accounts. We account for our share of oil and natural gas exploration and development ventures, in which we have a direct working interest, by reporting our proportionate share of assets, liabilities, revenues, costs and cash flows within the relevant lines on our condensed consolidated balance sheets, statements of operations, equity and cash flows.

We have prepared this report in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (U.S.) and the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission applicable to interim financial information, which permit the omission of certain disclosures to the extent they have not changed materially since the latest annual financial statements. We believe our disclosures are adequate to make the information not misleading. This Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.