PRIMEENERGY RESOURCES CORP - Quarter Report: 2004 March (Form 10-Q)

PrimeEnergy Corporation

Consolidated Statement of Stockholders' Equity

Three Months Ended March 31, 2004

(unaudited)

PrimeEnergy Corporation ("PEC"), a Delaware corporation, was organized in March 1973. The Company is engaged in the development, acquisition and production of oil and natural gas properties. The Company owns leasehold, mineral and royalty interests in producing and non-producing oil and gas properties across the United States, including Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company operates 1,533 wells and owns non-operating interests in over 770 additional wells. Additionally, the Company provides well-servicing support operations, site-preparation and construction services for oil and gas drilling and re-working operations, both in connection with the Company's activities and providing contract services for third parties. The Company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "PNRG."

PrimeEnergy Management Corporation ("PEMC"), a wholly-owned subsidiary, acts as the managing general partner, providing administration, accounting and tax preparation services for 18 private and publicly-held limited partnerships and 2 trusts (collectively, the "Partnerships"). PEC owns Eastern Oil Well Service Company ("EOWSC"), EOWS Midland Company("EMID") and Southwest Oilfield Construction Company ("SOCC"), all of which perform oil and gas field servicing. PEC also owns Prime Operating Company ("POC"), which serves as operator for most of the producing oil and gas properties owned by the Company and affiliated entities. Field service revenues and the administrative overhead fees earned as operator are reported as 'District operating income' on the consolidated statement of operations. During 2003 PEC acquired a sixty percent interest in F-W Oil Exploration LLC, ("FW"), which owns and operates properties in the Gulf of Mexico. PrimeEnergy Corporation and its subsidiaries are herein referred to as the "Company."

The markets for the Company's products are highly competitive, as oil and gas are commodity products and prices depend upon numerous factors beyond the control of the Company, such as economic, political and regulatory developments and competition from alternative energy sources.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X.

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The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of PrimeEnergy Corporation, its subsidiaries and the Partnerships, using the proportionate consolidation method, whereby the Company's proportionate share of each entity's assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses are included in the appropriate classifications in the consolidated financial statements. Inter-company balances and transactions are eliminated in preparing the consolidated financial statements.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Estimates of oil and gas reserves, as determined by independent petroleum engineers, are continually subject to revision based on price, production history and other factors. Depletion expense, which is computed based on the units of production method, could be significantly impacted by changes in such estimates. Additionally, FAS 144 requires that if the expected future cash flow from an asset is less than its carrying cost, that asset must be written down to its fair market value. As the fair market value of an oil and gas property will usually be significantly less than the total future net revenue expected from that property, small changes in the estimated future net revenue from an asset could lead to the necessity of recording a significant impairment of that asset.

The Company follows the "successful efforts" method of accounting for its oil and gas properties. Under the successful efforts method, costs of acquiring undeveloped oil and gas leasehold acreage, including lease bonuses, broker fees and other related costs are capitalized. Provisions for impairment of undeveloped oil and gas leases are based on periodic evaluations. Annual lease rentals and exploration expenses, including geological and geophysical expenses and exploratory dry hole costs, are charged against income as incurred. Costs of drilling and equipping productive wells, including development dry holes and related production facilities, are capitalized. Costs incurred by the Company related to the exploration, development and acquisition of oil and gas properties on behalf of the Partnerships or joint ventures are deferred and charged to the related entity upon the completion of the acquisition.

All other property and equipment are carried at cost. Depreciation and depletion of oil and gas production equipment and properties are determined under the unit-of-production method based on estimated proved recoverable oil and gas reserves. Depreciation of all other equipment is determined under the straight-line method using various rates based on useful lives. The cost of assets and related accumulated depreciation is removed from the accounts when such assets are disposed of, and any related gains or losses are reflected in current earnings.

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Effective January 1, 2003, the Company adopted SFAS No. 143, Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations. The Company's asset retirement obligation primarily represents the estimated present value of the amount the Company will incur to plug, abandon and remediate the Company's producing properties (including removal of its offshore platforms) at the end of their productive lives, in accordance with applicable federal and state laws. The Company determined its asset retirement obligation by calculating the present value of estimated cash flows related to the liability. The retirement obligation is recorded as a liability at its estimated present value as of the asset's inception, with an offsetting increase to producing properties. Periodic accretion of discount of the estimated liability is recorded as an expense in the income statement.

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 our 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 our wells, the costs to ultimately retire our wells may vary significantly from previous estimates.

The Company records income taxes in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards ("SFAS") No. 109, "Accounting for Income Taxes." SFAS No. 109 is an asset and liability approach to accounting for income taxes, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the Company's financial statements or tax returns.

Deferred tax liabilities or assets are established for temporary differences between financial and tax reporting bases and are subsequently adjusted to reflect changes in the rates expected to be in effect when the temporary differences reverse. A valuation allowance is established for any deferred tax asset for which realization is not likely.

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General and administrative expenses represent costs and expenses associated with the operation of the Company. Certain of the Partnerships sponsored by the Company reimburse general and administrative expenses incurred on their behalf.

Income per share of common stock has been computed based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the respective periods in accordance with SFAS No. 128, "Earnings per Share".

For purposes of the consolidated statements of cash flows, the Company considers short-term, highly liquid investments with original maturities of less than ninety days to be cash equivalents.

The Company maintains significant banking relationships with financial institutions in the State of Texas. The Company limits its risk by periodically evaluating the relative credit standing of these financial institutions. The Company's oil and gas production purchasers consist primarily of independent marketers and major gas pipeline companies.

The Company periodically enters into oil and gas financial instruments to manage its exposure to oil and gas price volatility. The oil and gas reference prices upon which the price hedging instruments are based reflect various market indices that have a high degree of historical correlation with actual prices received by the Company.

The financial instruments are accounted for in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards ("SFAS") No. 133, "Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities", which established new accounting and reporting requirements for derivative instruments and hedging activities. SFAS No. 133, as amended by SFAS No. 138, requires that all derivative instruments subject to the requirements of the statement be measured at fair market value and recognized as assets or liabilities in the balance sheet. The accounting for changes in the fair value of a derivative depends on the intended use of the derivative and the resulting designation is generally established at the inception of a derivative. For derivatives designated as cash flow hedges and meeting the effectiveness guidelines of SFAS No. 133, changes in fair value, to the extent effective, are recognized in other comprehensive income until the hedged item is recognized in earnings. Hedge effectiveness is measured at least quarterly based on the relative changes in fair value between the derivative contract and the hedged item over time. Any change in fair value of a derivative resulting from ineffectiveness or an excluded component of the gain/loss is recognized immediately in the statement of operations.

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In January 2003, the FASB issued Financial Interpretation No. 46, "Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities an interpretation of ARB No. 51" (FIN 46). FIN 46 is an interpretation of Accounting Research Bulletin 51, "Consolidated Financial Statements", and addresses consolidation by business enterprises of variable interest entities (VIE's). The primary objective of FIN 46 is to provide guidance on the identification of, and financial reporting for, entities over which control is achieved through means other than voting rights; such entities are known as VIE's. FIN 46 requires an enterprise to consolidate a variable interest entity if that enterprise has a variable interest that will absorb a majority of the entity's expected losses if they occur, receive a majority of the entity's expected residual return if they occur, or both. An enterprise shall consider the rights and obligations conveyed by its variable interests in making this determination. This guidance applies immediately to variable interest entities created after January 31, 2003, and to variable interest entities in which an enterprise obtains an interest after that date. It applies in the first fiscal year or interim period beginning after June 15, 2003, to variable interest entities in which an enterprise holds a variable interest that it acquired before February 1, 2003.. The adoption of this interpretation did not have an effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations.

An issue, EITF Issue 04-2, had arisen for companies engaged in oil and gas exploration and production regarding the application of SFAS No. 141and SFAS No. 142 as they relate to mineral rights held under lease or other contractual arrangements, and as to whether costs associated with these rights should be classified as intangible assets on the balance sheet, apart from other capitalized oil and gas property costs, and to provide specific footnote disclosure. In March 2004, the Emerging Issues Task Force of the FASB reached a consensus that mineral rights are tangible assets. In April 2004, the FASB ratified the EITF's consensus by issuing FASB Staff Position (FSP) 141-1 and 142-1, which amend SFAS No. 141 and SFAS No. 142 to address the inconsistency between the EITF consensus on EITF Issue No. 04-02 and SFAS No. 141 and SFAS No. 142. The FSP is effective for reporting periods beginning after April 29, 2004 and defines mineral rights as tangible assets. These staff positions will have no impact on our consolidated financial statements.

As more fully described in Note 7, the Company is committed to offer to repurchase the interests of the partners and trust unit holders in certain of the Partnerships. The Company purchased such interests in an amount totaling $10,926 for the quarter ending March 31, 2004 and $695,673 for the year ending December 31, 2003. The Company's proportionate share of assets, liabilities and results of operations related to the interests in the Partnerships are included in the consolidated financial statements.

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Effective August 15, 2003 the Company acquired a sixty percent interest in F-W Oil Exploration L.L.C., a licensed Gulf of Mexico operator for a cost of $4,000,000. As of that date FW had approximately 80,000 net acres to develop and a 12.5% working interest in two producing blocks in the Gulf of Mexico. The Company's proportionate share of FW's assets, liabilities and results of operations for the effective period are included in the consolidated financial statements.

Restricted cash and cash equivalents includes $1,483,000 and $1,479,000 at March 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003, respectively, of cash primarily pertaining to undistributed royalty payments. There were corresponding accounts payable recorded at March 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003 for these liabilities.