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Note 5 - Other Long-Term Obligations and Commitments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Other Long Term Obligations And Commitments Disclosure [Text Block]

5. Other Long-Term Obligations and Commitments:

Operating Leases:

The Company leases office facilities under operating leases and recognizes lease expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Lease assets and liabilities are initially recorded at commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. As most of the Company’s lease contracts do not provide an implicit discount rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments. The weighted average discount rate used was 6.96%. Certain leases may contain variable costs above the minimum required payments and are not included in the right-of-use assets or liabilities. Leases may include renewal, purchase or termination options that can extend or shorten the term of the lease. The exercise of those options is at the Company’s sole discretion and is evaluated at inception and throughout the contract to determine if a modification of the lease term is required. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less are not recorded on the balance sheet.

Operating lease costs for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 were $700 thousand and $628 thousand, respectively. Cash payments included in the operating lease cost for years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 were $739 thousand and $673 thousand, respectively. The weighted-average remaining operating lease terms for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 were 11 months and 11 months, respectively. As of 2023, the Company had certain leases for office space in Texas which included future payments of $275,000 in 2024 and $45,000 in 2025.

On March 4, 2024 the Company entered into a twelve-month lease extension agreement, effective March 1, 2024, with the landlord of the Company's Houston office. Rent expense for office space for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was $767,000 and $755,000, respectively.

The payment schedule for the Company’s operating lease obligations as of December 31, 2023 is as follows:

(Thousands of dollars)	Operating Leases

2024		275
2025		45
Total undiscounted lease payments	$	320
Less: Amount associated with discounting		(36	)
Total net operating lease liabilities	$	284
Less: Current portion included in Current portion of Asset Retirement and Other Long-Term Obligations		246
Non-current portion included in Other Long-Term Obligations	$	38

Asset Retirement Obligation:

A reconciliation of the liability for plugging and abandonment costs for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 is as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
(Thousands of dollars)	2023			2022
Asset retirement obligation at beginning of period	$	15,443		$	14,295
Net wells placed on production		254			11
Liabilities settled		(2,706	)		(1,407	)
Dispositions		(1,161	)		(344	)
Accretion expense		684			667
Revisions in estimated liabilities		2,639			2,221
Asset retirement obligation at end of period	$	15,153		$	15,443
Less: Current portion included in Current portion of asset retirement and other long-term obligations		446			1,918
Long-term Asset Retirement Obligations included in Asset Retirement Obligations	$	14,707		$	13,525

The Company’s liability is determined using significant assumptions, including current estimates of plugging and abandonment costs, annual inflation of these costs, the productive life of wells and a risk-adjusted interest rate. Changes in any of these assumptions can result in significant revisions to the estimated asset retirement obligation. Revisions to the asset retirement obligation are recorded with an offsetting change to producing properties, resulting in prospective changes to depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and accretion of discount. Because of the subjectivity of assumptions and the relatively long life of most of the Company’s wells, the costs to ultimately retire the wells may vary significantly from previous estimates.