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Commitments And Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract] |
Commitments And Contingencies | 9. Commitments and Contingencies The Company is a party to lawsuits in the ordinary course of its business. The Company does not believe that it is probable that the outcome of any individual action will have a material adverse effect, or that it is likely that adverse outcomes of individually insignificant actions will be significant enough, in number or magnitude, to have in the aggregate a material adverse effect on its financial statements. On December 15, 2013, the Company entered into a 38 month lease (2 months free) for office space in Greenwood Village Colorado. The payment on this lease is approximately $2,700 per month and expired February 28, 2017. On May 14, 2014, the lease was amended to include additional leased space at the Greenwood Village Colorado office. The amendment extended the lease to expire on May 31, 2017. The monthly lease payments were amended as follows: $3,965.06 per month for the period June 2014 through May 2015; $4,090.94 per month for the period June 2015 through May 2016; $4,216.81 per month for the period June 2016 through May 2017. Future non-cancellable commitments related to this lease total approximately $50,000 due in 2016, and $21,000 due in 2017. Office rent expense for each of the three years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013 was $49,000, $73,000, and $92,000, respectively. The Company as designated operator of the Hoactzin properties was administratively issued an “Incident of Non-Compliance” by BSEE during the quarter ended September 30, 2012 concerning one of Hoactzin’s operated properties. This action calls for payment of a civil penalty of $386,000 for failure to provide, upon request, documentation to the BSEE evidencing that certain safety inspections and tests had been conducted in 2011. In the 4th quarter of 2012, the Company filed an administrative appeal with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”) of this action in order to attempt to significantly reduce the civil penalty. This appeal required a fully collateralized appeal bond to postpone the payment obligation until the appeal was determined. The Company posted and collateralized this bond with RLI Insurance Company. If the bond was not posted, the appeal would have been administratively denied and the order to the Company as operator to pay the $386,000 penalty would have become final. On June 23, 2014, the IBLA affirmed the civil penalty without reduction. On September 22, 2014, the Company sought judicial review of the June 23, 2014 agency action in the federal district court in the Eastern District of Louisiana at New Orleans. As a result of the determination by the IBLA, the Company recorded a liability of $386,000 in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets under “Accrued and other current liabilities” and an expense in its Consolidated Statements of Operations under “Production costs and taxes” for the year ended December 31, 2014. On July 14, 2015, the federal district court in the Eastern District of Louisiana affirmed the determination by the IBLA without reduction. The Company determined that further appeal of the determination was not likely to reduce the penalty and the Company did not further appeal. In the third quarter of 2015, the Company paid the civil penalty affirmed on appeal and statutory interest thereon from funds borrowed under its credit facility. During the quarter ended December 31, 2015, the funds held as collateral by RLI Insurance Company were released to the Company. The Company has not advanced any funds to pay any obligations of Hoactzin and no borrowing capability of the Company has been used in connection with its obligations under the Management Agreement, except for those funds used to collateralize the appeal bond with RLI Insurance Company and to pay the civil penalty and interest thereon. During the second quarter of 2015, the Company received from Hoactzin a copy of an internal analysis prepared by Hoactzin setting out certain issues that Hoactzin may consider to form the basis of operational and other claims against the Company primarily under the Management Agreement. This analysis raised issues other than the “Incident of Non-Compliance” discussed previously. The Company is discussing this analysis, as well as the civil penalty discussed previously, with Hoactzin in an effort to determine whether there is possibility of a reasonable resolution of some or all of these matters on a negotiated basis. During the quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Company initiated cost reduction measures including compensation reductions for each employee as well as members of the Board of Directors. These compensation reductions will remain in place until such time, if any, that the market price of crude oil, calculated as a thirty day trailing average of WTI postings as published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration meets or exceeds $70 per barrel when compensation shall revert to the levels in place before the reductions became effective. At such time, if any, that the market price of crude oil, calculated as a thirty day trailing average of WTI postings as published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration meets or exceeds $85 per barrel, all previous reductions made will be reimbursed to each employee and members of the Board of Directors if he is still employed by the Company or still a member of the Board of Directors. As of December 31, 2015, the reductions were approximately $142,000. The Company has not accrued any liabilities associated with these compensation reductions.

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