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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Notes to Financial Statements  
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

NOTE 3 – SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

 

Reclassifications.  Certain amounts in the consolidated financial statements of prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation for comparative purposes.

 

Use of Estimates in Financial Statement Preparation.  The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as certain financial statement disclosures.  While management believes that the estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of the financial statements are appropriate, actual results could differ from these estimates.  Significant estimates include those with respect to the amount of recoverable oil and gas reserves, the fair value of financial instruments, oil and gas depletion, asset retirement obligations and stock based compensation.

 

Fair Value of Financial Instruments.  The carrying amount of Blast’s cash, accounts receivables, accounts payables, and accrued expenses approximates their estimated fair values due to the short-term maturities of those financial instruments. Management believes the fair value of  the promissory notes entered into connection with the funding arrangement for the Guijarral Hills Exploitation Project approximates the fair value due to the short-term nature of the instruments.

 

Cash Equivalents.  Blast considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less to be cash equivalents.

 

Revenue Recognition.  All revenue is recognized when persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists, the service or sale is complete, the price is fixed or determinable and collectability is reasonably assured.  Revenue is derived from the sale of crude oil and down hole services. Revenue from crude oil sales is recognized when the crude oil is delivered to the purchaser and collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue from services is recognized when the service is delivered or completed and collection is reasonable assured.  If collection is uncertain, revenue is recognized when cash is collected.  We recognize reimbursements received from third parties for out-of-pocket expenses incurred as service revenues and account for out-of-pocket expenses as direct costs of services.

 

Oil and Gas Properties, Full Cost Method. Blast uses the full cost method of accounting for oil and gas producing activities. Costs to acquire mineral interests in oil and gas properties, to drill and equip exploratory wells used to find proved reserves, and to drill and equip development wells, including directly related overhead costs, and related asset retirement costs are capitalized.

 

Under this method, all costs, including internal costs directly related to acquisition, exploration and development activities, if any, are capitalized as oil and gas property costs on a field by field basis. Sales of oil and gas properties or interests therein are credited against capitalized costs in the full cost pool. Properties not subject to amortization consist of exploration and development costs which are evaluated on a property-by-property basis. Amortization of these unproved property costs begins when the properties become proved or their values become impaired. Blast will assess the probability of realization of unproved properties, if any, on at least an annual basis or when there has been an indication that impairment in value may have occurred.  Impairment of unproved properties is assessed based on management's intention with regard to future exploration and development of individually significant properties and the ability of Blast to obtain funds to finance such exploration and development. If the results of an assessment indicate that the properties are impaired, the amount of the impairment is added to the capitalized costs to be amortized. Costs of oil and gas properties will be amortized using the units of production method.

 

Ceiling Test. In applying the full cost method, Blast performs an impairment test (ceiling test) at each reporting date, whereby the carrying value of oil and gas property and equipment is compared to the “estimated present value” of its proved reserves, discounted at a 10% interest rate of future net revenues based on current operating conditions at the end of the period and the average, first day of the month price received for oil and gas production over the preceding 12 month period, plus the cost of properties not being amortized, plus the lower of cost or fair market value of unproved properties included in costs being amortized, less the income tax effects related to book and tax basis differences of the properties.  As of June 30, 2011, the application of the ceiling test resulted in no charge to impairment expense.

 

Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations.  If a reasonable estimate of the fair value of an obligation to perform site reclamation, dismantle facilities or plug and abandon wells can be made, Blast will record a liability (an asset retirement obligation or ARO) on its consolidated balance sheet and capitalize the present value of the asset retirement cost in oil and gas properties in the period in which the retirement obligation is incurred. In general, the amount of an ARO and the costs capitalized will be equal to the estimated future cost to satisfy the abandonment obligation assuming the normal operation of the asset, using current prices that are escalated by an assumed inflation factor up to the estimated settlement date, which is then discounted back to the date that the abandonment obligation was incurred using an assumed cost of funds for Blast. After recording these amounts, the ARO will be accreted to its future estimated value using the same assumed cost of funds and the capitalized costs are depreciated on a unit-of-production basis within the related full cost pool. Both the accretion and the depreciation will be included in depreciation, depletion and amortization expense on our consolidated statements of operations.

 

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts.  Blast does not require collateral from its customers with respect to accounts receivable, but performs periodic credit evaluations of such customer’s financial condition. Blast determines any required allowance by considering a number of factors including length of time accounts receivable are past due and Blast’s previous loss history. Blast provides reserves for accounts receivable when they become uncollectible, and payments subsequently received on such receivables are credited to the allowance for doubtful accounts. As of June 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, Blast determined that no allowance for doubtful accounts was required.  During the six months ended June 30, 2011, Blast recognized bad debt expense of $3,686 related to a dated receivable balance from its discontinued satellite business determined to be uncollectible.

 

Earnings or Loss Per Share.  Basic earnings per share equal net earnings or loss divided by weighted average shares outstanding during the period.  Diluted earnings per share include the impact on dilution from all contingently issuable shares, including options, warrants and convertible securities.  The common stock equivalents from contingent shares are determined by the treasury stock method.  Blast incurred a net loss for the six month periods ended June 30, 2011 and 2010 and therefore, basic and diluted earnings per share for those periods are the same as all potential common equivalent shares would be anti-dilutive.  At June 30, 2010, all outstanding options, warrants and convertible securities had exercise prices or conversion rates that were in excess of Blast’s common share price at the end of the period.

 

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2011, using the treasury stock method, outstanding warrants with exercise prices below the period end market price of Blast’s stock would have increased dilutive shares outstanding by 1,819,319 and 1,801,145 common shares, respectively.

 

New Accounting Pronouncements. We have adopted recently issued accounting pronouncements and have determined that they have no material effect on our financial position, results of operations, or cash flow.  We do not expect any recently issued but not yet adopted accounting pronouncements to have a material effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flow.