7. DEBT

Credit Agreement

We have entered into a credit facility with Royal Bank of Canada, as administrative agent and collateral agent, and the lenders party thereto (as amended by the Ninth Amendment to Third Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (the “Credit Agreement”). The Credit Agreement provides a quarterly amortizing term loan of $155.0 million (the “Term Loan”) and a maximum revolving credit amount of $20.0 million (the “Revolving Loan”). The Term Loan and Revolving Loan both have a maturity date of September 30, 2021. Borrowings under the Credit Agreement are secured by various mortgages of both midstream and upstream properties that we own as well as various security and pledge agreements among us, certain of our subsidiaries and the administrative agent.

Borrowings under the Credit Agreement are available for limited direct investment in oil and natural gas properties, midstream properties, acquisitions, and working capital and general business purposes. The Credit Agreement has a sub-limit of up to $2.5 million which may be used for the issuance of letters of credit. Pursuant to the Credit Agreement, the initial aggregate commitment amount under the Term Loan is $155.0 million, subject to quarterly $10.0 million principal and other mandatory prepayments. The initial borrowing base under the Credit Agreement was $235.5 million. The borrowing base is equal to the sum of the rolling four quarter EBITDA of our midstream operations and the amount of distributions received from the Carnero JV multiplied by 4.5 or a lower number dependent upon natural gas volumes flowing through Western Catarina Midstream. Outstanding borrowings in excess of our borrowing base must be repaid within 45 days. As of December 31, 2019, the borrowing base under the Credit Agreement was $235.5 million and we had $150.0 million of debt outstanding, consisting of $145.0 million under the Term Loan and $5.0 million under the Revolving Loan. We are required to make mandatory amortizing payments of outstanding principal on the Term Loan of $10 million per fiscal quarter. The maximum revolving credit amount is $20.0 million leaving us with $15.0 million in unused borrowing capacity. There were no letters of credit outstanding under our Credit Agreement as of December 31, 2019.

At our election, interest for borrowings under the Credit Agreement are determined by reference to (i) the LIBOR plus an applicable margin between 2.50% and 3.00% per annum based on net debt to EBITDA or (ii) a domestic bank rate (“ABR”) plus an applicable margin between 1.50% and 2.00% per annum based on net debt to EBITDA plus (iii) a commitment fee of 0.500% per annum based on the unutilized maximum revolving credit. Interest on the borrowings for ABR loans and the commitment fee are generally payable quarterly. Interest on the borrowings for LIBOR loans are generally payable at the applicable maturity date.

The Credit Agreement contains various covenants that limit, among other things, our ability to incur certain indebtedness, grant certain liens, merge or consolidate, sell all or substantially all of our assets, make certain loans, acquisitions, capital expenditures and investments, and pay distributions to unitholders.

In addition, we are required to maintain the following financial covenants:

current assets to current liabilities of at least 1.0 to 1.0 at all times; and

senior secured net debt to consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the last twelve months, as of the last day of any fiscal quarter, of not greater than 3.5 to 1.0.

The Credit Agreement also includes customary events of default, including events of default relating to non-payment of principal, interest or fees, inaccuracy of representations and warranties when made or when deemed made, violation of covenants, cross-defaults, bankruptcy and insolvency events, certain unsatisfied judgments, loan documents not being valid and a change in control. A change in control is generally defined as the occurrence of one of the following events: (i) our existing general partner ceases to be our sole general partner or (ii) certain specified persons shall cease to own more than 50% of the equity interests of our general partner or shall cease to control our general partner. If an event of default occurs, the lenders will be able to accelerate the maturity of the Credit Agreement and exercise other rights and remedies.

At December 31, 2019, we were in compliance with the financial covenants contained in the Credit Agreement. We monitor compliance on an ongoing basis. If we are unable to remain in compliance with the financial covenants contained in our Credit Agreement or maintain the required ratios discussed above, the lenders could call an event of default and accelerate the outstanding debt under the terms of the Credit Agreement, such that our outstanding debt could become then due and payable. We may request waivers of compliance from the violated financial covenants from the lenders, but there is no assurance that such waivers would be granted.

Debt Issuance Costs

As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, our unamortized debt issuance costs were approximately $1.2 million and $1.4 million, respectively. These costs are amortized to interest expense in our consolidated statements of operations over the life of our Credit Agreement. Amortization of debt issuance costs recorded during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were approximately $1.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively.