(Former name or former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company.
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed all documents and reports required to be filed by Sections 12, 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 subsequent to the distribution of securities under a plan confirmed by a court. Yes ☐ No ☐
1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The accompanying unaudited financial statements of Empire Petroleum Corporation ("Empire" or the "Company") have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and the instructions to Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by United States generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation of the Company's financial position, the results of operations, and the cash flows for the interim period are included. All adjustments are of a normal, recurring nature. Operating results for the interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2016.
The information contained in this Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements and related notes for the year ended December 31, 2015 which are contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 30, 2016.
The Company has incurred significant losses in recent years. The continuation of the Company as a going concern is dependent upon the ability of the Company to attain future profitable operations and/or additional debt or equity financing until profitable operations are achieved. These financial statements have been prepared on the basis of United States generally accepted accounting principles applicable to a company with continuing operations, which assume that the Company will continue in operation for the foreseeable future and will be able to realize its assets and discharge its obligations in the normal course of operations. Management believes the going concern assumption to be appropriate for these financial statements. If the going concern assumption were not appropriate for these financial statements, then adjustments might be necessary to adjust the carrying value of assets and liabilities and reported expenses.
The Company continues to seek partners to help it explore and develop oil and gas interests. The ultimate recoverability of the Company's investment in oil and gas interests is dependent upon the existence and discovery of economically recoverable oil and gas reserves, the ability of the Company to obtain necessary financing to further develop the interests, and the ability of the Company to attain future profitable production.
As of June 30, 2016, the Company had $3,823 of cash. In order to sustain the Company's operations on a long-term basis, the Company continues to look for merger opportunities and consider public or private financings.
Compensation of Officers and Employees
As of June 30, 2016, the Company had no employees. Mr. Albert E. Whitehead, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until January 20, 2015, devoted a considerable amount of time to the affairs of the Company and received no compensation. On January 21, 2015, J.C. Whorton was appointed as the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Michael R. Morrisett was appointed as the Company's President. Neither Mr. Whorton nor Mr. Morrisett have received compensation from the Company in the first six months of 2016 or 2015. The fair value of these services is estimated by management and is recognized as a capital contribution. For the six months ended June 30, 2016 and 2015 the Company recorded $25,000 as a contribution by its executive officers.
Fair Value Measurements
The Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") fair value measurement standards define fair value, establish a consistent framework for measuring fair value and establish a fair value hierarchy based on the observability of inputs used to measure fair value. The Company's primary marketable asset is cash, and it owns no marketable securities.
2. PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT
As of June 30, 2016, the Company did not own any interest in oil and gas properties or equipment.
3. EQUITY
Diluted Earnings per Share ("EPS") gives effect to all dilutive potential common shares outstanding during the period. The computation of Diluted EPS does not assume conversion, exercise or contingent exercise of securities that would have an anti-dilutive effect on losses. As a result, if there is a loss from continuing operations, Diluted EPS is computed in the same manner as Basic EPS. At June 30, 2016 and 2015, the Company had, respectively, 2,946,250 and 1,796,250 options and warrants outstanding that were not included in the calculation of earnings per share for the periods then ended. Such financial instruments may become dilutive and would then need to be included in future calculations of Diluted EPS. At June 30, 2016 and 2015, the outstanding options were considered anti-dilutive since the strike prices were above the market price and since the Company has incurred losses year to date.
The Company completed a private placement to seven accredited investors on dates from February 12, 2015 through February 24, 2015 of 1,080,000 shares of common stock, along with warrants to purchase up to 540,000 shares of the Company's common stock at an exercise price of $0.25, for an aggregate price of $135,000. The warrants may be exercised at any time from the date of issuance until February 28, 2017. Proceeds of the placements were allocated $127,062 to Common Stock Warrants, $1,080 to Common Stock and $6,858 to Paid in Capital. The value assigned to the warrants was determined using the Black-Scholes option valuation with the following assumptions: no dividend yield, expected annual volatility of 214%, risk free interest rate of .49% and an expected useful life of two years.
Effective April 8, 2015, the Company entered into an option to acquire oil & gas leases (the "Lease Option Agreement") with certain parties (BHPP Group). Pursuant to the Lease Option Agreement, the Company acquired the sole and exclusive option for a period of two years to enter into one or more oil and gas leases with respect to any mineral interests owned by BHPP Group Members within an area of mutual interest located in the Counties of Haakon, Meade and Pennington in the State of South Dakota (the "Area of Mutual Interest"). The Lease Option Agreement covers approximately 150,000 gross leasable acres. As the initial consideration under the Lease Option Agreement, the Company granted to the BHPP Group options to acquire an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock, at exercise price of $0.25 per share for a period of two years from the effective date of the Lease Option Agreement. In addition, under the Lease Option Agreement, the BHPP Group has the right to be issued additional options to acquire shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.25 per share upon assisting the Company securing additional oil and gas leases within the Area of Mutual Interest. The value assigned to the stock options was determined using the Black-Scholes option valuation with the following assumptions: no dividend yield, expected annual volatility of 147%, risk free interest rate of .54% and an expected useful life of two years. The value of the stock options was allocated $150,200 to Paid in Capital with an offsetting allocation of $150,200 to the Lease Options.
Effective April 30, 2015, the Company entered into an option to acquire oil & gas leases (the "Lease Option Agreement II") with certain parties (Anderson Brothers). Pursuant to the Lease Option Agreement II, the Company acquired the sole and exclusive option for a period of two years to enter into one or more oil and gas leases with respect to any mineral interests owned by the Anderson Brothers within an area of mutual interest located in the Counties of Perkins and Harding in the State of South Dakota and the County of Adams, North Dakota (the "Area of Mutual Interest II"). The Lease Option Agreement II covers approximately 10,000 gross leasable acres. As the initial consideration under the Lease Option Agreement II, the Company granted to the Anderson Brothers options to acquire an aggregate of 250,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock, at exercise price of $0.25 per share for a period of two years from the effective date of the Lease Option Agreement II. In addition, under the Lease Option Agreement II, the Anderson Brothers have the right to be issued additional options to acquire shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.25 per share upon assisting the Company securing additional oil and gas leases within the Area of Mutual Interest II. The value assigned to the stock options was determined using the Black-Scholes option valuation with the following assumptions: no dividend yield, expected annual volatility of 135%, risk free interest rate of .58% and an expected useful life of two years. The value of the stock options was allocated $31,275 to Paid in Capital with an offsetting allocation of $31,275 to the Lease Options.
On June 1, 2016 the Company issued options to purchase a total of 1,150,000 shares of the Company's common stock under the 2006 Stock Incentive Plan for services rendered to the Company, including capital formation, prospective deal origination, evaluation, due diligence, and administrative support. The options immediately vested and expire after 2 years. 600,000 of the options have a strike price of 15 cents, with the remainder, 550,000, having a strike price of 25 cents. The Company recorded an expense of $65,660 for the options, $27,500 related to the 25 cent options and $38,160 related to the 15 cent options. The value assigned to the stock options was determined using the Black-Scholes option valuation with the following assumptions: no dividend yield, expected annual volatility of 113%, risk free interest rate of .91% and an expected useful life of two years.
|
Item 2.
|
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
|
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
GENERAL TO ALL PERIODS
The Company's primary business is the exploration and development of oil and gas interests. The Company has incurred significant losses from operations, and there is no assurance that it will achieve profitability or obtain the funds necessary to finance its operations. For all periods presented, the Company's effective tax rate is 0%. The Company has generated net operating losses since inception, which would normally reflect a tax benefit in the statement of operations and a deferred asset on the balance sheet. However, because of the current uncertainty as to the Company's ability to achieve profitability, a valuation reserve has been established that offsets the amount of any tax benefit available for each period presented in the statements of operations.
THREE-MONTH PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2016, COMPARED TO THREE-MONTH PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2015.
General and administrative expenses increased by $50,498 to $86,204 for the three months ended June 30, 2016, from $35,706 for the same period in 2015. The increase is primarily due to stock options issued in 2016.
There was no depreciation expense attributable to the three months ended June 30, 2016 or June 30, 2015 because there are no assets.
For the reasons discussed above, net loss increased by $50,507 from $(35,697) for the three months ended June 30, 2015, to $(86,204) for the three months ended June 30, 2016.
SIX-MONTH PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2016 COMPARED TO SIX-MONTH PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2015.
General and administrative expenses increased by $45,606 to $143,042 for the six months ended June 30, 2016, from $97,436 for the same period in 2015. The increase is primarily due to stock options issued in 2016.
There was no depreciation expense attributable to the three months ended June 30, 2016 or June 30, 2015 because there are no assets.
For the reasons discussed above, net loss increased by $45,620 from $(97,422) for the six months ended June 30, 2015, to $(143,042) for the six months ended June 30, 2016.
RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS
The Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") periodically issues new accounting standards in a continuing effort to improve standards of financial accounting and reporting. The following is a summary of recent accounting pronouncements that are relevant to the Company:
In August 2014, the FASB issued
ASU 2014-15, "Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40)": Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. The guidance requires an entity to evaluate whether there are conditions or events, in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt about the entity's ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued (or within one year after the financial statements are available to be issued when applicable) and to provide related footnote disclosures in certain circumstances. The guidance is effective for the annual period ending after December 15, 2016, and for annual and interim periods thereafter. Early application is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU 2014-15.
In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, "Compensation-Stock Compensations (Topic 718: Improvements to Employee Share-based Payment Accounting," which changes the accounting and presentation for share-based payment arrangements in the following areas: (i) recognition in the statement of operations of excess tax benefits and deficiencies; (ii) cash flow presentation of excess tax benefit and deficiencies; (iii) minimum statutory withholding thresholds and the classification on the cash flow statement of the withheld amounts; and (iv) an accounting policy election to recognize forfeitures as they occur. This guidance is effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016 and early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact that this new guidance will have on its financial statements.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
GENERAL
As of June 30, 2016, the Company had $3,823 of cash. The Company is considering various options, including raising additional equity, in order to raise cash for evaluation of leases and continuing operations.
OUTLOOK
Effective April 8, 2015, the Company entered into an option to acquire oil & gas leases (the "Lease Option Agreement") with Dennis Anderson, Lazy BS, LLP, a South Dakota limited liability partnership, Boot Jack Partnership, a South Dakota general partnership, Stan Anderson, Bart Cheney, Scot Eisenbraun, Jem Kjerstad, Kem Kjerstad, Kent Kjerstad and Kevin Kjerstad (collectively, the "BHPP Group" and, individually, a "BHPP Group Member"). The Lease Option Agreement has an effective date of April 14, 2015. Pursuant to the Lease Option Agreement, the Company acquired the sole and exclusive option for a period of two years to enter into one or more oil and gas leases with respect to any mineral interests owned by BHPP Group Members within an area of mutual interest located in the Counties of Haakon, Meade and Pennington in the State of South Dakota (the "Area of Mutual Interest"). The Lease Option Agreement covers approximately 150,000 gross leasable acres.
As the initial consideration under the Lease Option Agreement, the Company granted to the BHPP Group options to acquire an aggregate of 1,000,000 shares of the Company's the Common Stock, at exercise price of $0.25 per share for a period of two years from the effective date of the Lease Option Agreement. In addition, under the Lease Option Agreement, the BHPP Group has the right to be issued additional options to acquire shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.25 per share upon assisting the Company securing additional oil and gas leases within the Area of Mutual Interest.
For more information regarding the Lease Option Agreement, please see the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on April 23, 2015.
Effective April 30, 2015, the Company entered into an option to acquire oil & gas leases (the "Lease Option Agreement II") with Dennis Anderson, and Stan Anderson, (collectively, the "Anderson Brothers" and, individually, as an "Anderson Brother"). The Lease Option Agreement II has an effective date of April 30, 2015. Pursuant to the Lease Option Agreement II, the Company acquired the sole and exclusive option for a period of two years to enter into one or more oil and gas leases with respect to any mineral interests owned by Anderson Brothers within an area of mutual interest located in the Counties of Perkins and Harding in the State of South Dakota and the County of Adams, North Dakota (the "Area of Mutual Interest II"). The Lease Option Agreement II covers approximately 10,000 gross leasable acres.
As the initial consideration under the Lease Option Agreement II, the Company granted to the Anderson Brothers options to acquire an aggregate of 250,000 shares of the Company's common stock, at exercise price of $0.25 per share for a period of two years from the effective date of the Lease Option Agreement II. In addition, under the Lease Option Agreement II, the Anderson Brothers have the right to be issued additional options to acquire shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.25 per share upon assisting the Company securing additional oil and gas leases within the Area of Mutual Interest II.
Absent sufficient funding, the two lease option agreements will be written off upon their expiration.
For more information regarding the Lease Option Agreement II, please see the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on May 11, 2015.
The Company has begun geological and geophysical studies of the two above listed prospects to identify potential areas for seismic surveys, geochemical imaging surveys and satellite and gravity studies. Once the studies are completed, geological and engineering consultants will be utilized to "high-grade" certain areas for prospect development. If favorable drilling prospects are identified, the Company will pursue suitable joint venture partners for well and field development.
The Company is also actively pursuing the acquisition of non-operated working interests. It is anticipated that such acquisitions will be financed through equity and debt and transactions.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including this section, includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of federal securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including future sources of financing and other possible business developments, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties and could be affected by a number of different factors, including the Company's failure to secure short and long-term financing necessary to sustain and grow its operations, increased competition, changes in the markets in which the Company participates and the technology utilized by the Company and new legislation regarding environmental matters. These risks and other risks that could affect the Company's business are more fully described in reports it files with the SEC, including its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Actual results may vary materially from the forward-looking statements.
The Company undertakes no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements in this Form 10-Q.
MATERIAL RISKS
The Company has incurred significant losses from operations and there is no assurance that it will achieve profitability or obtain the funds necessary to finance continued operations. For other material risks, see the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, which was filed on March 30, 2016.
Item 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Not applicable.
Item 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
As of the end of the period covered by this report, the Company carried out an evaluation under the supervision of the Company's Chief Executive Officer and President (and principal financial officer) of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the Company's disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a - 15(e) and 15d - 15(e). Based on this evaluation, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and President (and principal financial officer) has concluded that the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report are effective.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings
None.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Not applicable.
Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
None.
Item 3. Defaults Upon Senior Securities
None.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
Item 5. Other Information
None.
Item 6. Exhibits
|
31.1
|
Certification of J.C. Whorton, Jr., Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rules 13a - 14 (a) and 15(d) - 14(a) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Item 601(1) (31) of Regulation S-K, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (submitted herewith).
|
|
31.2
|
Certification of Michael R. Morrisett, principal financial officer pursuant to Rules 13a - 14 (a) and 15(d) - 14(a) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Item 601(1) (31) of Regulation S-K, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (submitted herewith).
|
|
32.1
|
Certification of J.C. Whorton, Jr., Chief Executive Officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (submitted herewith).
|
|
32.2
|
Certification of Michael R. Morrisett, principal financial officer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (submitted herewith).
|
|
101
|
Financial Statements for XBRL format (submitted herewith).
|
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
| |
Empire Petroleum Corporation
|
|
Date:
|
August 15, 2016
|
By:
|
/s/ J. C. Whorton, Jr.
|
| |
|
J. C. Whorton, Jr.
|
| |
|
Chief Executive Officer
|
| |
|
(principal executive officer)
|
| |
|
|