ITEM 1. BUSINESS
OVERVIEW
We were incorporated under the name Alazzio Entertainment Corp. on January 24, 2014, under the laws of the State of Nevada. Our original business plan was to operate photo booth rentals.
On April 3, 2015, a change in control occurred by virtue of our company’s largest shareholder, Dmitri Kapsumun selling 900,000 shares (split adjusted) of our common stock to Rise Fast Limited, a Hong Kong corporation. Such shares represented 71.77% of our total issued and outstanding shares of common stock. As part of the sale of the shares, Rise Fast Limited arranged with the resigning member of our company’s Board of Directors, to appoint Mr. Huang Yu as the sole officer and director of our company.
On April 16, 2015, we filed a Certificate of Amendment with the Nevada Secretary of State (the “Nevada SOS”) whereby we amended our Articles of Incorporation by increasing our authorized number of shares of common stock from 75 million to 300 million (not adjusted for the one (1) for one hundred (100) stock split) and increasing all of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock at a ratio of fifteen (15) shares for every one (1) share held. Our Board of Directors approved this amendment on April 15, 2015 and shareholders holding 71.77% of our issued and outstanding shares approved this amendment via a written consent executed on April 16, 2015.
Effective April 29, 2015 we changed our name to America Resources Exploration Inc. by way of a merger with our wholly-owned subsidiary, incorporated solely for the purpose of the change of name.
On June 10, 2015, we entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Zheng Xiangwu, a resident of Guang Dong Province, China, whereby we issued 40,000 million shares of its common stock in exchange for rights to certain oil and gas leases located in Frio and Atascosa Counties, Texas, consisting of a total of 714 total acres of land, two (2) working wells and a total of seven (7) wells (the “Leases”). The acquisition of the Leases pursuant to the Asset Purchase Agreement was completed on June 1, 2015. As a result of the completion of this acquisition, 40,000 shares of our company’s common stock were issued to Mr. Zheng Xiangwu, who owns our company’s largest shareholder, Rise Fast Limited. The number of shares issued to Mr. Zheng was determined by valuing the Leases at $160,000 and valuing the Company’s stock at $0.04 per share. At the completion of the Asset Purchase Agreement, we entered into the oil and gas industry.
On June 11, 2015, we entered into various assignment agreements with Mr. Zheng for the acquisition of multiple oil and gas leases and overriding royalty interests (“ORR’s”) as set out in the table below. From July 6, 2015 through July 9, 2015, we completed the acquisition of such oil and gas leases and ORR’s, whereby we issued a total of 6,500 shares of our common stock to Mr. Zheng.
Assignment Date
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Name of The Property
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Type of Property
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Location
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June 11
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, 2015
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Ellis County
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Overriding Royalty Int.
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Oklahoma
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June 11
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, 2015
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Hemphill County
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Overriding Royalty Int
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Texas
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June 11
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, 2015
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Madison County
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Wellbore Interest
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Texas
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June 11
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, 2015
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Shelby County
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Wellbore Interest
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Texas
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June 11
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, 2015
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Emergy County
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Lease Purchase
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Utah
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On August 13, 2015 we entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Inceptus Resources, LLC whereby our company acquired a 78% net revenue interest in 200 acres located in Callahan County, Texas, and a 78% net revenue interest in 522 acres also located in Callahan County, Texas.
On January 20, 2016, we changed our name to PetroGas Company, by way of a merger with our wholly-owned subsidiary, incorporated solely for the purpose of the change of name. In addition, we amended our Articles of Incorporation for a reverse stock split by decreasing all of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock at a ratio one (1) new for one hundred (100) old shares of common stock. The reverse stock split was approved by our directors and shareholders holding 68.65% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock on January 13, 2016 and the reverse stock split became effective with FINRA on March 7, 2016. The change of name resulted in a change of trading symbol to “PTCO”.
On September 13, 2017, the Company filed a Certificate of Amendment with the Nevada Secretary of State (the “Nevada SOS”) whereby it amended its Articles of Incorporation by decreasing all of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock at a ratio of one (1) share for every one hundred (100) shares held. The Company’s Board Of Directors approved the Amendment on July 21, 2017 and Shareholders holding 75.95% of the Company’s shares approved the Amendment via written consent executed on July 21, 2017, with an effective date of October 5, 2017.
Our principal executive offices are located at 2800 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 4100, Houston, Texas 77056. Our telephone number is (832) 899-8597.
We have never declared bankruptcy, been in receivership, or involved in any kind of legal proceeding.
We hold a 94% interest in Seabourn Oil Company, LLC., a Texas LLC.
CURRENT INVESTMENTS
On June 12, 2015, we acquired three (3) producing leases covering 714 acres situated in Atascosa and Frio Counties, Texas, located in the Eagle Ford Shale formation - the Jane Burns “C” (“Burns”), the Theo Rogers “C”, and the Theo Rogers “A” & “D” (“Rogers”) Leases. We acquired a 99.5% working interest (74.625% net revenue interest) in each lease.
The Burns and Rogers Leases provide exploration and production opportunities in the Kyote Field pay zone, very near the Eagle Ford Shale play with access to available rig crews and other vendor-servicers, due to their close proximity to San Antonio, Texas.
The Burns and Rogers Leases hold collectively seven (7) oil wells, but none of which are operating wells. Although our company’s management and industry professionals believed at the time that they were acquired that our company could double or triple previous production on these wells, depressed oil prices indicate that the cost to bring these wells online an uneconomical venture.
On November 30, 2016, we acquired various royalty interests in Texas for $10,485. On December 14, 2016, we acquired two oil and gas leases in Ohio for $2,705. On January 1, 2017, our company acquired the lease for three oil and gas properties for $4,975.
Future Operations
We are actively seeking to acquire producing and non-producing leases that will allow us to explore and drill in high-profile pay zones.
We intend to raise capital at a low cost from private placements so that we may acquire numerous additional leases, and to commence drilling, and taking advantage of the inevitable uptick in oil prices to come.
In the current climate, our company believes that there are a very large number of oil & gas leases under distress due to the depressed gas prices and that we can strategically position our company to acquire as many of these leases as possible at a discount to market value, hence creating shareholder value.
We are planning an exploration strategy to drill new wells on the current Leases, as well as acquire deeper rights in order to drill some of the wells at great depths. We expect that reservoirs at those depths could yield a very high daily output of oil.
Lease Data
Burns Lease
Acreage: 160
Working Interest: 99.5%; Net Revenue Interest: 74.625%
Depth of wells is from 3,550 to 3,639 ft.
Field: Kyote; Zone: Olmos “D” Reservoir.
Inventory: 2 pumping units, 2 oil tanks, 1 separator, 2 wells w/tubing & rods downhole, 2 downhole pumps in wells, 3 packers in wells; 2 wells w/electrical connection; 2 propane motors; 1 propane tank; 1 unused well head.
Rogers Lease
Acreage: 355
Working Interest: 99.5%; Net Revenue Interest: 74.625%
Depth of wells is from 3,518 to 3,590 ft.
Field: Kyote; Zone: Olmos “D” Reservoir.
Inventory: 1 pumping unit, 1 oil tank (400 bbls), 1 well w/tubing & rods downhole, 1 downhole pump in well, 1 well w/electrical connection.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Risks Related to Our Oil and Gas Operations
If our exploration and development programs prove unsuccessful, we may not be able to continue operations.
An investment in our company should be considered highly speculative due to the nature of our involvement in the exploration, development and production of oil and natural gas. Oil and gas exploration involves a high degree of risk, which even a combination of experience, knowledge and careful evaluation may not be able to overcome. Exploratory drilling is subject to numerous risks, including the risk that no commercially productive oil and natural gas reservoirs will be encountered. The cost to drill, complete and operate wells is often uncertain, and drilling operations may be curtailed, delayed or cancelled as a result of a variety of factors including unexpected drilling conditions, abnormal pressures, equipment failures, premature declines of reservoirs, blow-outs, sour gas releases, fires, spills or other accidents, as well as weather conditions, compliance with governmental requirements, delays in receiving governmental approvals or permits, unexpected environmental issues and shortages or delays in the delivery of equipment. Our inability to drill wells that produce commercial quantities of oil and natural gas would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Future oil and gas acquisitions or exploration may involve unprofitable efforts, not only from dry wells, but from wells that are productive but do not produce sufficient net revenues to return a profit after exploration, drilling, operating and other costs. Completion of wells does not ensure a profit on the investment or recovery of exploration, drilling, completion and operating costs. Drilling hazards or environmental damage could greatly increase the cost of operations, and various field operating conditions may adversely affect production. Adverse conditions include delays in obtaining governmental approvals or consents, shut-ins of connected wells resulting from extreme weather conditions, insufficient storage or transportation capacity or other geological and mechanical conditions.
Fluctuations in commodity prices could have a material impact on our revenues, which would affect our profitability.
Commodity price risk related to conventional crude oil prices could become our most significant market risk exposure if we achieve oil and natural gas production. Crude oil prices are influenced by such worldwide factors as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries actions, political events and supply and demand fundamentals. At this time, we cannot accurately predict these fluctuations because we do not know when we will commence generating revenues from our oil and gas operations. Furthermore, we cannot estimate, at this time, the impact of commodity price fluctuations until we can predict the level of revenues.
Application, interpretation and enforcement of government tax and other legislation is inconsistent making it difficult for us to ensure that we are compliant which could lead to penalties.
The tax environment in the United States is subject to change, inconsistent application, interpretation and enforcement. Non-compliance with US laws and regulations can lead to the imposition of penalties and interest. We intend to make every effort to conform to these laws and regulations. However, our interpretations and those of our advisors may not be the same as those of government officials, which could lead to penalties and interest.
We face competition which could adversely affect our ability to significantly penetrate the oil and gas market in the U.S., which may make it difficult to attain profitability.
The oil and gas market in the U.S. is highly competitive. Most of the competitors are major international energy industry operators. These competitors have various advantages over us, including:
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Substantially greater financial resources, which gives them greater access to the types of distressed properties that we are targeting and flexibility when developing their exploration and drilling programs;
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greater recognition in the industry, which influences a potential partners’ decision to participate in programs;
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larger operations, which provides economies of scale and operating efficiencies not available to us;
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longer operating histories; and
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more established relationships with strategic partners.
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We may be unable to successfully compete with these established competitors, which may adversely affect our ability to acquire additional properties and thus impact our ability to generate revenue.
Compliance, interpretation and enforcement with evolving environmental laws and regulations may impact our expenses in a negative manner, which would directly impact our profit margins.
Extensive national, regional and local environmental laws and regulations in the U.S. will affect our operations. These laws and regulations set various standards regulating certain aspects of health and environmental quality which provide for user fees, penalties and other liabilities for the violation of these standards and establish, in some circumstances, obligations to remediate current and former facilities and off-site locations. We believe we are currently in compliance with all existing environmental laws and regulations. However, as new environmental laws and legislation are enacted and the old laws are repealed, interpretation, application and enforcement of the laws may become inconsistent. Compliance in the future could require significant expenditures, which would directly impact our profit margins.
Drilling, exploring for and producing oil is a high risk activity with many uncertainties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our future financial condition and results of operations will depend on the success of our drilling, exploration and production activities. These activities are subject to numerous risks beyond our control, including the risk that drilling will not result in economic oil production or increases in reserves. Many factors may curtail, delay or cancel our scheduled development projects, including:
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decline in oil prices;
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compliance with governmental regulations, which may include limitations on hydraulic fracturing, access to water or the discharge of greenhouse gases;
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inadequate capital resources;
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inability to attract and retain qualified personnel;
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unavailability or high cost of drilling and completion equipment, services or materials;
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unexpected drilling conditions, pressure or irregularities in formations, equipment failures or accidents;
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adverse weather conditions;
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surface access restrictions;
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mechanical difficulties.
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Oil prices are volatile, and a decline in oil prices could significantly affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to meet our capital expenditure requirements and financial commitments.
Our revenues, profitability and cash flow will depend substantially upon the prices and demand for oil. The markets for this commodity are volatile, and even relatively modest drops in prices can affect significantly our financial results and impede our growth. Prices for oil fluctuate widely in response to relatively minor changes in the supply and demand for these commodities, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors beyond our control, such as:
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domestic and foreign supply of oil;
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domestic and foreign consumer demand for oil;
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overall United States and global economic conditions;
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price and availability of alternative fuels;
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governmental regulations;
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technological advances affecting oil consumption.
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Further, oil prices continue to be volatile. Advanced drilling and completion technologies, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, have resulted in increased investment by oil and gas producers in developing U.S. shale gas and, more recently, tight oil projects. The results of higher investment in the exploration for and production of oil and gas and other factors, such as global economic and financial conditions discussed below, may cause the price of oil to fall. Lower oil prices may not only cause our revenues to decrease but also may reduce the amount of oil that we can produce economically. Continue depressed oil prices have resulted is us having to impair our estimated proved reserves and has had a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, if oil prices significantly decline for an extended period of time, we may, among other things, be unable to have any borrowing capacity, repay future debt or obtain additional capital on attractive terms, all of which can affect the value of our common stock.
Future economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The U.S. and other world economies continue to experience the after-effects of a global recession and credit market crisis. More volatility may occur before a sustainable growth rate is achieved either domestically or globally. Even if such growth rate is achieved, such a rate may be lower than the U.S. and international economies have experienced in the past. Global economic growth drives demand for energy from all sources, including fossil fuels. A lower, future economic growth rate will result in decreased demand for our oil production and lower commodity prices, and consequently reduce our revenues, cash flows from operations and our profitability.
We are subject to complex governmental laws and regulations that may adversely affect the cost, manner and feasibility of doing business.
Our oil drilling, production and gathering operations are subject to complex and stringent laws and regulations. To operate in compliance with these laws and regulations, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits and approvals from various federal, state and local governmental authorities. We may incur substantial costs to comply with these existing laws and regulations. In addition, our costs of compliance may increase if existing laws and regulations are revised or reinterpreted, or if new laws and regulations apply to our operations. Such costs could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Failure to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our operations, including any evolving interpretation and enforcement by government authorities, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Environmental laws and regulations may expose us to significant costs and liabilities.
There is inherent risk of incurring significant environmental costs and liabilities in our oil operations due to the handling of petroleum hydrocarbons and generated wastes, the occurrence of air emissions and water discharges from work-related activities and the legacy of pollution from historical industry operations and waste disposal practices. We may incur joint and several or strict liability under these environmental laws and regulations in connection with spills, leaks or releases of petroleum hydrocarbons and wastes on, under or from our properties and facilities, some of which have been used for exploration, production or development activities for many years and by third parties not under our control. In particular, the number of private, civil lawsuits involving hydraulic fracturing has risen in recent years. Since late 2009, multiple private lawsuits alleging ground water contamination have been filed in the U.S. against oil and gas companies, primarily by landowners who leased oil and gas rights to defendants, or by landowners who live close to areas where hydraulic fracturing has taken place. In addition, changes in environmental laws and regulations occur frequently, and any such changes that result in more stringent and costly waste handling, storage, transport, disposal or remediation requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may not be able to recover some or any of these costs from insurance.
Our business requires significant capital expenditures and we may not be able to obtain needed capital or financing on satisfactory terms or at all.
Our exploration, development and acquisition activities require substantial capital expenditures. We intend to fund our capital expenditures through a combination of private or public equity financings. We may not be able to obtain equity financing on favorable terms or at all. The failure to obtain financing could cause us to scale back our exploration and development operations, which in turn could lead to loss of properties.
Currently, all of our properties are located in eleven (11) counties, making us vulnerable to risks associated with having our production concentrated in a small area.
All of our properties are concentrated in fourteen (14) counties comprised of seven (7) counties in Texas (Atascosa, Frio, Hemphill, Madison, Shelby, Callahan and Roberts Counties), four (4) counties in Oklahoma (Ellis, Payne, Cleveland, and Harper Counties), one (1) county in Utah (Emergy County), and two (2) counties in Ohio (Monroe and Washington Counties). As a result of this concentration, we are disproportionately exposed to the natural decline of production from these fields as well as the impact of delays or interruptions of production from these wells, which could be caused by significant governmental regulation, transportation capacity constraints, curtailments of production, service delays, natural disasters or other events that impact this area.
Market conditions or transportation and infrastructure impediments may hinder our access to oil markets or delay our production or sales.
Market conditions or the unavailability of satisfactory oil processing and transportation services and infrastructure may hinder our access to oil markets or delay our production or sales. The availability of a ready market for our oil production depends on a number of factors, including market demand and the proximity of any producing wells that we may operate in the future to pipelines or trucking and rail terminal facilities. In addition, the amount of oil that can be produced and sold is subject to curtailment in certain circumstances, such as pipeline interruptions due to maintenance, physical damage to the gathering or transportation system or lack of contracted capacity on such systems. The curtailments arising from these and similar circumstances may last from a few days to several months, and in many cases, we are provided with limited, if any, notice as to when these circumstances will arise and their duration. As a result, we may not be able to sell, or may have to transport by more expensive means, the oil that we produce, or we may be required to shut in oil wells or delay initial production until the necessary gathering and transportation systems are available. Any significant curtailment in gathering system, transportation, pipeline capacity or significant delay in construction of necessary gathering and transportation facilities, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The unavailability or high cost of drilling rigs, equipment, materials, personnel and oilfield services could adversely affect our ability to execute our drilling and development plans on a timely basis and within our budget.
Our industry is cyclical and, from time to time, there is a shortage of drilling rigs, equipment, supplies or qualified personnel. During these periods, the costs and delivery times of equipment, oilfield services and supplies are substantially greater. In addition, the demand for, and wage rates of, qualified drilling and completion crews rise as the number of active rigs in service increases. Increasing levels of exploration and production will increase the demand for oilfield services, and the costs of these services may increase, while the quality of these services may suffer. If the availability of equipment, crews, materials and services in counties in which our properties are located is particularly severe, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected because our properties are located solely in those counties.
Competition in the oil and gas industry is intense, and most of our competitors have resources that are greater than ours.
We operate in a highly competitive environment for acquiring prospects and productive properties, marketing oil and securing equipment and skilled personnel. Most of our competitors are major and large independent oil and gas companies that have financial, technical and personnel resources substantially greater than ours. Those companies may be able to develop and acquire more prospects and productive properties than our financial or personnel resources permit. Our ability to develop and operate our current projects, acquire additional prospects and discover reserves in the future will depend on our ability to hire and retain qualified personnel, evaluate and select suitable properties and consummate transactions and in a highly competitive environment. Also, there is substantial competition for capital available for investment in the oil and gas industry. Larger competitors may be better able to withstand sustained periods of unsuccessful drilling and absorb the burden of changes in laws and regulations more easily than we can, which would adversely affect our competitive position. We may not be able to compete successfully in the future in attracting and retaining qualified personnel, acquiring prospective reserves, developing reserves, marketing oil and raising additional capital.
Operating hazards or other interruptions of our operations could result in potential liabilities, for which we do not have insurance.
The oil and gas business involves certain operating hazards such as well blowouts, cratering, explosions, uncontrollable flows of gas, oil or well fluids, fires, surface and subsurface pollution and contamination, and releases of toxic gas. The occurrence of one of the above may result in injury, loss of life, suspension of operations, environmental damage and remediation and/or governmental investigations and penalties. We do not currently have insurance and if we do acquire insurance at the commencement of operations, then consistent with insurance coverage generally available to the industry, we expect that our insurance policies will provide limited coverage for losses or liabilities relating to pollution, with broader coverage for sudden and accidental occurrences. Our insurance, when acquired, might be inadequate to cover our liabilities. The insurance market in general and the energy insurance market in particular have been difficult markets over the past several years. Insurance costs are expected to continue to increase over the next few years, and we may decrease coverage and retain more risk to mitigate future cost increases. If we incur substantial liability and the damages are not covered by insurance or are in excess of policy limits, or if we incur liability at a time when we are not able to obtain liability insurance, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.
Our results are subject to quarterly and seasonal fluctuations.
Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate and could be negatively impacted in the future as a result of a number of factors, including seasonal variations in oil prices, variations in levels of production, if an when production commences, and the completion of development projects.
Risks Relating to an Investment in our Securities
If we fail to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, the price of our common stock may be adversely affected.
We are required to establish and maintain appropriate internal controls over financial reporting. Failure to establish those controls, or any failure of those controls once established, could adversely impact our public disclosures regarding our business, financial condition or results of operations. Any failure of these controls could also prevent us from maintaining accurate accounting records and discovering accounting errors and financial frauds. Rules adopted by the SEC pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 require annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting. The standards that must be met for management to assess the internal control over financial reporting as effective are complex, and require significant documentation, testing and possible remediation to meet the detailed standards. We may encounter problems or delays in completing activities necessary to make an assessment of our internal control over financial reporting. If we cannot assess our internal control over financial reporting as effective, investor confidence and share value may be negatively impacted.
In addition, management’s assessment of internal controls over financial reporting may identify weaknesses and conditions that need to be addressed in our internal controls over financial reporting or other matters that may raise concerns for investors. Any actual or perceived weaknesses and conditions that need to be addressed in our internal control over financial reporting, disclosure of management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting, or disclosure of our public accounting firm’s attestation to or report on management’s assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting may have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
Compliance with changing regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure will result in additional expenses.
Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and related SEC regulations, have created uncertainty for public companies and significantly increased the costs and risks associated with accessing the public markets and public reporting. For example, on January 30, 2009, the SEC adopted rules requiring companies to provide their financial statements in interactive data format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL. We currently have to comply with these rules. Our management team will need to invest significant management time and financial resources to comply with both existing and evolving standards for public companies, which will lead to increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue generating activities to compliance activities.
Because of the early stage of development and the nature of our business, our securities are considered highly speculative.
Our securities must be considered highly speculative, generally because of the nature of our business and the early stage of its development. We have not generated any revenues nor have we realized a profit from our -operations to date and there is little likelihood that we will generate any revenues or realize any profits in the short term. Any profitability in the future from our business will be dependent upon our ability to market the products developed under our licensing agreement and to source other acquisitions in the industry we have chosen either additional technologies or exploration projects. Since we have not generated any revenues, we will have to raise additional monies through the sale of our equity securities or debt in order to continue our business operations.
We may, in the future, issue additional common shares that would reduce investors’ percent of ownership and may dilute our share value.
The future issuance of common shares may result in substantial dilution in the percentage of our common shares held by our then existing stockholders. We may value any common shares issued in the future on an arbitrary basis. The issuance of common shares for future services or acquisitions or other corporate actions may have the effect of diluting the value of the common shares held by our investors, and might have an adverse effect on any trading market for our common shares.
Broker-dealers may be discouraged from effecting transactions in our shares because they are considered penny stocks and are subject to the penny stock rules thereby potentially limiting the liquidity of our shares.
Rules 15g-1 through 15g-9 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, impose sales practice and disclosure requirements on NASD broker-dealers who make a market in "penny stocks". A penny stock generally includes any non-NASDAQ equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share. Our shares are quoted on the OTC Pink Marketplace. NASD broker-dealers who act as market makers for our shares generally facilitate purchases and sales of our shares. The additional sales practice and disclosure requirements imposed upon broker-dealers may discourage broker-dealers from effecting transactions in our shares, which could severely limit the market liquidity of the shares and impede the sale of our shares in the secondary market.
Under the penny stock regulations, a broker-dealer selling penny stock to anyone other than an established customer or "accredited investor" (generally, an individual with net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or an annual income exceeding $200,000, or $300,000 together with his or her spouse) must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must receive the purchaser's written consent to the transaction prior to sale, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt.
In addition, the penny stock regulations require the broker-dealer to deliver, prior to any transaction involving a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prepared by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt. A broker-dealer is also required to disclose commissions payable to the broker-dealer and the registered representative and current quotations for the securities. Finally, a broker-dealer is required to send monthly statements disclosing recent price information with respect to the penny stock held in a customer's account and information with respect to the limited market in penny stocks.
Our common stock may experience extreme rises or declines in price, and you may not be able to sell your shares at or above the price paid.
Our common stock may be highly volatile and could be subject to extreme fluctuations in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control, including (but not necessarily limited to): (i) the trading volume of our shares; (ii) the number of securities analysts, market-makers and brokers following our common stock; (iii) changes in, or failure to achieve, financial estimates by securities analysts; (iv) actual or anticipated variations in quarterly operating results; (v) conditions or trends in our business industries; (vi) announcements by us of significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments; (vii) additions or departures of key personnel; (viii) sales of our common stock; and (ix) general stock market price and volume fluctuations of publicly-trading and particularly, microcap companies.
Investors may have difficulty reselling shares of our common stock, either at or above the price they paid for our stock, or even at fair market value. The stock markets often experience significant price and volume changes that are not related to the operating performance of individual companies, and because our common stock is thinly traded it is particularly susceptible to such changes. These broad market changes may cause the market price of our common stock to decline regardless of how well we perform as a company. In addition, there is a history of securities class action litigation following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities. Although there is no such shareholder litigation currently pending or threatened against the Company, such a suit against us could result in the incursion of substantial legal fees, potential liabilities and the diversion of management’s attention and resources from our business. Moreover, and as noted below, our shares are currently traded on the OTC Pink Marketplace and, further, are subject to the penny stock regulations. Price fluctuations in such shares are particularly volatile and subject to manipulation by market-makers, short-sellers and option traders.
A decline in the price of our common stock could affect our ability to raise further working capital, it may adversely impact our ability to continue operations and we may go out of business.
A prolonged decline in the price of our common stock could result in a reduction in the liquidity of our common stock and a reduction in our ability to raise capital. Because we may attempt to acquire a significant portion of the funds we need in order to conduct our planned operations through the sale of equity securities, or convertible debt instruments, a decline in the price of our common stock could be detrimental to our liquidity and our operations because the decline may cause investors to not choose to invest in our stock. If we are unable to raise the funds we require for all our planned operations, we may be forced to reallocate funds from other planned uses and may suffer a significant negative effect on our business plan and operations, including our ability to develop new products and continue our current operations. As a result, our business may suffer, and not be successful and we may go out of business. We also might not be able to meet our financial obligations if we cannot raise enough funds through the sale of our common stock and we may be forced to go out of business.