Impairments

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Impairments

IMPAIRMENTS

We review and evaluate our long-lived assets, including intangible assets, for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the related carrying amount of those assets may not be recoverable, and changes to our estimates could affect our assessment of asset recoverability.

Oil and Natural Gas Properties

There were no impairments recorded during the Successor Period of the three months ended March 31, 2021.

During the first quarter of 2020, due to the increased uncertainty in our business, we determined our undeveloped acreage would not be fully developed and thus the carrying values of certain of our unproved oil and gas properties were not recoverable resulting in an impairment of $226.5 million. That impairment had a corresponding increase to our depletion base and contributed to our recorded full cost ceiling impairment during the first quarter of 2020. We recorded a non-cash full cost ceiling test write-down of $267.8 million pre-tax ($220.8 million, net of tax) in the first quarter of 2020 due to the reduction for the 12-month average commodity prices and the impairment of our unproved oil and gas properties described above.

In addition to the impairment evaluations of our proved and unproved oil and gas properties in the first quarter of 2020, we also evaluated the carrying value of our salt water disposal assets. Based on our revised forecast, we determined that some were no longer expected to be used and wrote off the assets for total expense of $17.6 million during the first quarter of 2020. These amounts are reported in loss on abandonment of assets in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Contract Drilling

There were no impairments recorded during the Successor Period of the three months ended March 31, 2021.

At March 31, 2020, due to market conditions, we performed impairment testing on two asset groups which were comprised of our SCR diesel-electric drilling rigs and our BOSS drilling rigs. We concluded that the net book value of the SCR drilling rigs asset group was not recoverable through estimated undiscounted cash flows and recorded a non-cash impairment charge of $407.1 million in the first quarter of 2020. We also recorded an additional non-cash impairment charges of $3.0 million for other miscellaneous drilling equipment. These charges are included within impairment charge in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

We used the income approach to determine the fair value of the SCR drilling rigs asset group. This approach uses significant assumptions including management’s best estimates of the expected future cash flows and the estimated useful life of the asset group. Fair value determination requires a considerable amount of judgement and is sensitive to changes in underlying assumptions and economic factors. As a result, there is no assurance the fair value estimates made for the impairment analysis will be accurate in the future.

We concluded that no impairment was needed as of March 31, 2020 on the BOSS drilling rigs asset group as the undiscounted cash flows exceeded the carrying value of the asset group. The carrying value of the asset group was approximately $242.5 million at March 31, 2020. The estimated undiscounted cash flows of the BOSS drilling rigs asset group exceeded the carrying value by a relatively minor margin. Some of the more sensitive assumptions used in evaluating the contract drilling rigs asset groups for potential impairment include forecasted utilization, gross margins, salvage values, discount rates, and terminal values.

Mid-stream

There were no impairments recorded during the Successor Period of the three months ended March 31, 2021.

During the first quarter of 2020, we determined that the carrying value of certain long-lived asset groups in southern Kansas, and central Oklahoma where lower pricing is expected to impact drilling and production levels, are not recoverable and exceeded their estimated fair value. Based on the estimated fair value of the asset groups, we recorded non-cash impairment charges of $64.0 million. These charges are included within impairment charges in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations.