Southwestern Energy Company (including its subsidiaries, collectively “Southwestern” or the “Company”) is an independent energy company engaged in natural gas, oil and NGLs exploration, development and production (“E&P”). The Company is also focused on creating and capturing additional value through its marketing business (“Marketing”), which was previously referred to as “Midstream” when it included the operations of gathering systems. Southwestern conducts most of its business through subsidiaries and operates principally in two segments: E&P and Marketing. The Company’s historical financial and operating results include its Fayetteville Shale E&P and related midstream gathering businesses, which were sold in early December 2018 (“the Fayetteville Shale sale”). The sale is discussed in further detail in Note 3.

E&P. Southwestern’s primary business is the exploration for and production of natural gas, oil and NGLs, with ongoing operations focused on the development of unconventional natural gas and oil reservoirs located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The Company’s operations in northeast Pennsylvania, herein referred to as “Northeast Appalachia,” are primarily focused on the unconventional natural gas reservoir known as the Marcellus Shale. Operations in West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania, herein referred to as “Southwest Appalachia,” are focused on the Marcellus Shale, the Utica and the Upper Devonian unconventional natural gas and oil reservoirs. Collectively, Southwestern refers to its properties located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia as “Appalachia.” The Company also operates drilling rigs located in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and provides oilfield products and services, principally serving the Company's E&P operations through vertical integration.

The consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report present the Company’s financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, if any, at the date of the financial statements, and the amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The Company evaluates subsequent events through the date the financial statements are issued.

In 2015, the Company purchased an 86% ownership in a limited partnership that owns and operates a gathering system in Northeast Appalachia. Because the Company owns a controlling interest in the partnership, the operating and financial results are consolidated with the Company’s E&P segment results. The minority partner’s share of the partnership activity is reported in retained earnings in the consolidated financial statements. Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 was insignificant.

The Company sells the vast majority of its E&P natural gas, oil and NGL production to third-party customers through its marketing subsidiary. In 2019, no single customer accounted for 10% or greater of total sales. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, two subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell Plc in aggregate accounted for approximately 10.4% and 10.3%, respectively, of total natural gas, oil and NGL sales. The Company believes that the loss of a major customer would not have a material adverse effect on its ability to sell its natural gas, oil and NGL production because alternative purchasers are available.

Cash and cash equivalents are defined by the Company as short-term, highly liquid investments that have an original maturity of three months or less and deposits in money market mutual funds that are readily convertible into cash. Management considers cash and cash equivalents to have minimal credit and market risk as the Company monitors the credit status of the financial

Certain of the Company’s cash accounts are zero-balance controlled disbursement accounts. The Company presents the outstanding checks written against these zero-balance accounts as a component of accounts payable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Outstanding checks included as a component of accounts payable totaled $15 million and $34 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Natural Gas and Oil Properties. The Company utilizes the full cost method of accounting for costs related to the exploration, development and acquisition of natural gas and oil properties. Under this method, all such costs (productive and nonproductive), including salaries, benefits and other internal costs directly attributable to these activities, are capitalized on a country-by-country basis and amortized over the estimated lives of the properties using the units-of-production method. These capitalized costs are subject to a ceiling test that limits such pooled costs, net of applicable deferred taxes, to the aggregate of the present value of future net revenues attributable to proved natural gas, oil and NGL reserves discounted at 10% (standardized measure). Any costs in excess of the ceiling are written off as a non-cash expense. The expense may not be reversed in future periods, even though higher natural gas, oil and NGL prices may subsequently increase the ceiling. Companies using the full cost method are required to use the average quoted price from the first day of each month from the previous 12 months, including the impact of derivatives designated for hedge accounting, to calculate the ceiling value of their reserves. Decreases in market prices as well as changes in production rates, levels of reserves, evaluation of costs excluded from amortization, future development costs and production costs could result in future ceiling test impairments.

Costs associated with unevaluated properties are excluded from the amortization base until the properties are evaluated or impairment is indicated. The costs associated with unevaluated leasehold acreage and related seismic data, wells currently drilling and related capitalized interest are initially excluded from the amortization base. Leasehold costs are either transferred to the amortization base with the costs of drilling a well on the lease or are assessed at least annually for possible impairment or reduction in value. The Company’s decision to withhold costs from amortization and the timing of the transfer of those costs into the amortization base involves judgment and may be subject to changes over time based on several factors, including drilling plans, availability of capital, project economics and drilling results from adjacent acreage. At December 31, 2019, the Company had a total of $1,506 million of costs excluded from the amortization base, all of which related to its properties in the United States. Inclusion of some or all of these costs in the Company’s United States properties in the future, without adding any associated reserves, could result in additional non-cash ceiling test impairments.

At December 31, 2019, using the average quoted price from the first day of each month from the previous 12 months for Henry Hub natural gas of $2.58 per MMBtu, West Texas Intermediate oil of $55.69 per barrel and NGLs of $11.58 per barrel, adjusted for market differentials, the Company’s net book value of its United States natural gas and oil properties was $218 million below the ceiling amount and therefore did not result in a ceiling test impairment at December 31, 2019. Given the fall in commodity prices in 2019 and early 2020, the Company expects some non-cash impairment of its assets will likely occur as early as the first quarter of 2020. The Company had no derivative positions that were designated for hedge accounting as of December 31, 2019.

Using the average quoted price from the first day of each month from the previous 12 months for Henry Hub natural gas of $3.10 per MMBtu, West Texas Intermediate oil of $65.56 per barrel and NGLs of $17.64 per barrel, adjusted for market differentials, the Company’s net book value of its United States natural gas and oil properties did not exceed the ceiling amount and did not result in a ceiling test impairment at December 31, 2018. The Company had no derivative positions that were designated for hedge accounting as of December 31, 2018.

Using the average quoted price from the first day of each month from the previous 12 months for Henry Hub natural gas of $2.98 per MMBtu, West Texas Intermediate oil of $47.79 per barrel and NGLs of $14.41 per barrel, adjusted for market differentials, the Company’s net book value of its United States natural gas and oil properties did not exceed the ceiling amount and did not results in a ceiling test impairment at December 31, 2017. The Company had no derivative positions that were designated for hedge accounting as of December 31, 2017.

Asset Retirement Obligations. Natural gas and oil properties require expenditures to plug and abandon the wells and reclaim the associated pads and other supporting infrastructure when the wells are no longer producing. An asset retirement obligation associated with the retirement of a tangible long-lived asset such as oil and gas properties is recognized as a liability in the period incurred or when it becomes determinable, with an associated increase in the carrying amount of the related long-lived asset. The cost of the tangible asset, including the asset retirement cost, is depreciated over the useful life of the asset. The asset retirement obligation is recorded at its estimated fair value, and accretion expense is recognized over time as the discounted liability is accreted to its expected settlement value.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets. The Company’s non-full cost pool assets include water facilities, gathering systems, technology infrastructure, land, buildings and other equipment with useful lives that range from 3 to 30 years. The carrying value of non-full cost pool long-lived assets is evaluated for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it may not be recoverable. Should an impairment exist, the impairment loss would be measured as the amount that the asset’s carrying value exceeds its fair value. For the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recognized non-cash impairments of $16 million for non-core assets.

In accordance with accounting guidance for Property, Plant and Equipment, assets held for sale are measured at the lower of carrying value or fair value less costs to sell. This accounting guidance does not apply to the Company’s full cost pool assets, which are governed under SEC Regulation S-X 4-10, and thus were not classified as held for sale. Because the assets excluding the full cost pool met the criteria for held for sale accounting in the third quarter of 2018 due to their inclusion in the Fayetteville Shale sale, the Company determined the carrying value of certain non-full cost pool assets exceeded the fair value less costs to sell. As a result, a non-cash impairment charge of $160 million was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2018, of which $145 million related to midstream gathering assets held for sale and $15 million related to E&P assets held for sale. Separately, the Company recorded an $11 million non-cash impairment of other non-core assets that were not included in the Fayetteville Shale sale, for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Intangible Assets. The carrying value of intangible assets are evaluated for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that it may not be recoverable. Intangible assets are amortized over their useful life. At December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company had $56 million and $65 million, respectively, in marketing-related intangible assets that were included in Other long-term assets on the consolidated balance sheets. The Company amortized $9 million of its marketing-related intangible asset in each of the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, and expects to amortize $9 million in 2020, $8 million in 2021 and $5 million for the three years thereafter.

The Company follows the asset and liability method of accounting for income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recorded for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to the differences between the financial carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using the tax rate expected to be in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to reverse. The effect of a change in tax rates on deferred tax assets and liabilities is recognized in the year of the enacted rate change. Deferred income taxes are provided to recognize the income tax effect of reporting certain transactions in different years for income tax and financial reporting purposes. A valuation allowance is established to reduce deferred tax assets if it is more likely than not that the related tax benefits will not be realized.

The Company accounts for uncertainty in income taxes using a recognition and measurement threshold for tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. The tax benefit from an uncertain tax position is recognized when it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities based on technical merits of the position. The amount of the tax benefit recognized is the largest amount of the benefit that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. The effective tax rate and the tax basis of assets and liabilities reflect management’s estimates of the ultimate outcome of various tax uncertainties. The Company recognizes penalties and interest related to uncertain tax positions within the provision (benefit) for income taxes line in the accompanying consolidated statements of operations. Additional information regarding uncertain tax positions along with the impact of the Tax Reform Act can be found in Note 1 1.

The Company uses derivative financial instruments to manage defined commodity price risks and does not use them for speculative trading purposes. The Company uses derivative instruments to financially protect sales of natural gas, oil and NGLs. In addition, the Company uses interest rate swaps to manage exposure to unfavorable interest rate changes. Since the Company does not designate its derivatives for hedge accounting treatment, gains and losses resulting from the settlement of derivative contracts have been recognized in gain (loss) on derivatives in the consolidated statements of operations when the contracts expire and the related physical transactions of the underlying commodity are settled. Additionally, changes in the fair value of the unsettled portion of derivative contracts are also recognized in gain (loss) on derivatives in the consolidated statement of operations. See Note 6 and Note 8 for a discussion of the Company’s hedging activities.

Basic earnings per common share is computed by dividing net income (loss) attributable to common stock by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the reportable period. The diluted earnings per share calculation adds to the weighted average number of common shares outstanding: the incremental shares that would have been outstanding assuming the exercise of dilutive stock options, the vesting of unvested restricted shares of common stock, performance units and the assumed conversion of mandatory convertible preferred stock. An antidilutive impact is an increase in earnings per share resulting from the conversion, exercise, or contingent issuance of certain securities.

In January 2015, the Company issued 34,500,000 depositary shares that entitled the holder to a proportional fractional interest in the rights and preferences of the mandatory convertible preferred stock, including conversion, dividend, liquidation and voting rights. The mandatory convertible preferred stock had the non-forfeitable right to participate on an as-converted basis at the conversion rate then in effect in any common stock dividends declared and, therefore, was considered a participating security. Accordingly, it has been included in the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share, pursuant to the two-class method. In the calculation of basic earnings per share attributable to common shareholders, earnings are allocated to participating securities based on actual dividend distributions received plus a proportionate share of undistributed net income attributable to common shareholders, if any, after recognizing distributed earnings. The Company’s participating securities do not participate in undistributed net losses because they are not contractually obligated to do so. In January 2018, all outstanding shares of mandatory convertible preferred stock were converted to 74,998,614 shares of the Company’s common stock. The Company paid its last dividend payment of approximately $27 million associated with the depositary shares in January 2018.


	For the years ended December 31,
(in millions, except share/per share amounts)	2019		2018		2017
Net income	$	891	$	537	$	1,046
Mandatory convertible preferred stock dividend	—		—		108
Participating securities – mandatory convertible preferred stock	—		2		123
Net income attributable to common stock	$	891	$	535	$	815

Number of common shares:
Weighted average outstanding	539,345,343		574,631,756		498,264,321
Issued upon assumed exercise of outstanding stock options	—		—		—
Effect of issuance of non-vested restricted common stock	361,380		698,103		1,061,056
Effect of issuance of non-vested performance units	676,191		1,312,949		1,478,920
Weighted average and potential dilutive outstanding	540,382,914		576,642,808		500,804,297

Earnings per common share:
Basic	$	1.65	$	0.93	$	1.64
Diluted	$	1.65	$	0.93	$	1.63


	For the years ended December 31,
	2019	2018	2017
Unexercised stock options	5,078,253	5,909,082	116,717
Unvested share-based payment	1,728,264	3,692,794	5,361,849
Performance units	271,268	642,568	765,689
Mandatory convertible preferred stock	—	2,465,708	74,999,895
Total	7,077,785	12,710,152	81,244,150

The Company accounts for stock-based compensation transactions using a fair value method and recognizes an amount equal to the fair value of the stock options and stock-based payment cost in either the consolidated statement of operations or capitalizes the cost into natural gas and oil properties included in property and equipment. Costs are capitalized when they are directly related to the acquisition, exploration and development activities of the Company’s natural gas and oil properties. See Note 1 4 for a discussion of the Company’s stock-based compensation.

The Company classifies certain awards that can or will be settled in cash as liability awards. The fair value of a liability-classified award is determined on a quarterly basis beginning at the grant date until final vesting. Changes in the fair value of liability-classified awards are recorded to general and administrative expense or capitalized expense over the vesting period of the award. The Company’s liability-classified performance unit awards that were granted in 2018 include a performance condition based on cash flow per debt-adjusted share and two market conditions, one based on absolute total shareholder return and the other on relative total shareholder return as compared to a group of the Company’s peers. The Company’s liability-classified performance unit awards that were granted in 2019 include a performance condition based on the return of average capital employed and the same two market conditions as in the 2018 awards. The fair values of the two market conditions are calculated by Monte Carlo models on a quarterly basis. See Note 14 for a discussion of the Company’s stock-based compensation.

In the third quarter of 2018, the Company announced its intention to repurchase up to $200 million of its outstanding common stock using a portion of the net proceeds from the Fayetteville Shale sale. At December 31, 2018, approximately $180 million had been spent to repurchase 39,061,268 shares at an average price of $4.63 per share. In the first quarter of 2019, the Company completed its share repurchase program by purchasing 5,260,687 shares of its outstanding common stock for approximately $21 million at an average price of $3.84 per share.

The Company maintains a non-qualified deferred compensation supplemental retirement savings plan for certain key employees whereby participants may elect to defer and contribute a portion of their compensation to a Rabbi Trust, as permitted by the plan. The Company includes the assets and liabilities of its supplemental retirement savings plan in its consolidated balance sheet. Shares of the Company’s common stock purchased under the non-qualified deferred compensation arrangement are held in the Rabbi Trust, are presented as treasury stock and are carried at cost. As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, 5,115 shares and 10,653 shares, respectively, were held in the Rabbi Trust and were accounted for as treasury stock. In 2018, 20,616 shares were released from the Rabbi Trust due to a reduction in our workforce. These shares are still held as treasury stock.

The Company has designated the Canadian dollar as the functional currency for its activities in Canada. The cumulative translation effects of translating the accounts from the functional currency into the U.S. dollar at current exchange rates are included as a separate component of other comprehensive income within stockholders’ equity.

In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-2, Leases (Topic 842) (“Update 2016-2”), which seeks to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by, among other things, recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for leases classified as operating leases under previous GAAP and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. The codification was amended through additional ASUs. For public entities, Update 2016-02 became effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842 with an effective date of January 1, 2019 using the modified retrospective approach for all leases that existed at the date of initial application. The Company elected to apply the transition as of the beginning of the period of adoption. For leases that existed at the period of adoption on January 1, 2019, the incremental borrowing rate as of the adoption date was used to calculate the present value of remaining lease payments. Upon adoption of ASC 842, the Company recognized a discounted right-of-use asset and corresponding lease liability with opening balances of approximately $105 million as of January 1, 2019. The adoption of the standard did not materially change the Company's consolidated statement of operations or its consolidated statement of cash flows. Please refer to Note 4 for additional disclosure.

In June 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“Update 2016-13”). Update 2016-13 replaces the incurred loss model with an expected loss model, which is referred to as the current expected credit loss (“CECL”) model. The CECL model is applicable to the measurement of credit losses on financial assets measured at amortized cost, including but not limited to trade receivables. For public business entities, the new standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within that reporting period.

From an evaluation of the Company’s existing credit portfolio, which includes trade receivables from commodity sales, joint interest billings due from partners, other receivables and cash equivalents, historical credit losses have been de minimis and are expected to remain so in the future assuming no substantial changes to the business or creditworthiness of our business partners. As anticipated, the CECL model did not have a significant impact on Southwestern's consolidated financial statements or related control environment upon adoption on January 1, 2020.