Note 3—Investment in Laramie Energy, LLC

We have a 42.3% ownership interest in Laramie Energy, a joint venture entity focused on developing and producing natural gas in Garfield, Mesa, and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado. Laramie Energy has a $400 million revolving credit facility secured by a lien on its natural gas and crude oil properties and related assets with a borrowing base currently set at $230 million. As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, the balance outstanding on the revolving credit facility was approximately $171.5 million and $117.5 million, respectively. We are guarantors of Laramie Energy’s credit facility, with recourse limited to the pledge of our equity interest in our wholly owned subsidiary, Par Piceance Energy Equity, LLC. Under the terms of its credit facility, Laramie Energy is generally prohibited from making future cash distributions to its owners, including us.

On March 9, 2015, we entered into an amendment to Laramie Energy's Limited Liability Company Agreement and made a cash capital contribution of $13.8 million to Laramie Energy. On May 29, 2015, we made an additional cash capital contribution of $13.8 million. As a result of our contributions to Laramie Energy, our ownership interest increased from 33.34% to 34.0%.

On July 31, 2015, an unaffiliated third party invested an aggregate of $19 million in Laramie Energy in the form of cash and property. As a result of this transaction, our ownership interest decreased from 34.0% to 32.4%.

At December 31, 2015, we conducted an impairment test related to our equity investment in Laramie Energy. As a result of the decline in commodity prices during 2015, we concluded that our equity investment in Laramie Energy was impaired and recognized an other-than-temporary impairment charge of $41.1 million on our consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2015.

On March 1, 2016, Laramie Energy acquired and assumed operatorship of certain properties in the Piceance Basin for$152.1 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments (“Laramie Purchase”). In connection with the Laramie Purchase, we acquired additional membership interests of Laramie Energy for an aggregate cash purchase price of $55.0 million. As a result of this transaction, our ownership interest in Laramie Energy increased from 32.4% to 42.3%.

The change in our equity investment in Laramie Energy is as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016			2015
Beginning balance	$	108,823	$	76,203		$	104,657
Equity earnings (losses) from Laramie Energy	13,043		(28,198		)	(15,713		)
Accretion of basis difference	5,326		5,818			811
Impairment	—		—			(41,081		)
Investments	—		55,000			27,529
Ending balance	$	127,192	$	108,823		$	76,203

Summarized financial information for Laramie Energy is as follows (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2017		2016
Current assets	$	18,757	$	12,199
Non-current assets	720,444		655,022
Current liabilities	42,149		58,067
Non-current liabilities	237,497		186,631



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016			2015
Natural gas and oil revenues	$	157,879	$	104,826		$	42,870
Income (loss) from operations	6,019		(27,325		)	(40,984		)
Net income (loss)	30,837		(61,849		)	(49,159		)

Laramie Energy's net income for the year ended December 31, 2017 includes $50.3 million and $46.2 million of DD&A expense and unrealized gains on derivative instruments, respectively. Laramie Energy's net loss for the year ended December 31, 2016 includes $42.7 million and $34.5 million of DD&A expense and unrealized losses on derivative instruments, respectively. Laramie Energy's net loss for the year ended December 31, 2015 includes $24.6 million and $16.6 million of DD&A expense and unrealized gains on derivative instruments, respectively. Additionally, 2015 includes $12.3 million of impairments of unproved properties.

At December 31, 2017 and 2016, our equity in the underlying net assets of Laramie Energy exceeded the carrying value of our investment by approximately $67.2 million and $69.9 million, respectively. This difference arose primarily due to lack of control and marketability discounts and an other-than-temporary impairment of our equity investment in Laramie Energy. We attributed this difference to natural gas and crude oil properties and are amortizing the difference over 15 years based on the estimated timing of production of proved reserves.