Investment in Laramie Energy, LLC

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]

As of December 31, 2022, we owned a 46.0% ownership interest in Laramie Energy, an entity focused on developing and producing natural gas in Garfield, Mesa, and Rio Blanco counties, Colorado. As of December 31, 2020, Laramie Energy had a $400.0 million revolving credit facility secured by a lien on its natural gas and crude oil properties and related assets with a borrowing base set at $139.7 million. On November 20, 2020, Laramie Energy amended its revolving credit facility, reducing the borrowing base to $140.0 million, resulting in a borrowing base deficiency of $60.0 million. In conjunction with the borrowing base deficiency, Laramie entered into a forbearance agreement through June 15, 2021 with its lenders.

On July 1, 2021, Laramie Energy entered into a term loan agreement which provided a term loan in the principal amount of $160 million. Laramie Energy used the proceeds from the term loan to repay the outstanding balance on its revolving credit facility. The term loan is secured by a lien on its natural gas and crude oil properties and related assets. Under the terms of the term loan, Laramie Energy is generally prohibited from making future cash distributions to its owners, including us, except for certain permitted tax distributions. Laramie Energy’s term loan matures on July 1, 2025. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the term loan had an outstanding balance of $77.4 million and $140.1 million, respectively.

On February 21, 2023, Laramie Energy entered into a term loan agreement which provided a $205 million first lien term loan facility with $160.0 million funded at closing and an optional $45 million delayed draw commitment, subject to certain terms and conditions. Laramie Energy used the proceeds from the term loan to repay the then-outstanding balance of $76.3 million on its existing term loan, including accrued interest and prepayment penalties, and fully redeem preferred equity of $73.5 million. After deducting transaction costs, net proceeds were $4.8 million. Laramie Energy’s term loan matures on February 21, 2027. Under the terms of the new term loan, Laramie is permitted to make future cash distributions to its owners, including us, subject to certain restrictions.

At March 31, 2020, we conducted an impairment evaluation of our investment in Laramie Energy because of (i) the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) an increase in the weighted-average cost of capital for energy companies, and (iii) continuing declines in natural gas prices through the first quarter of 2020. Based on our evaluation, we determined that the estimated fair value of our investment in Laramie Energy was $1.9 million, compared to a carrying value of $47.2 million at March 31, 2020. The fair value estimate was determined using a discounted cash flow analysis based on natural gas forward strip prices as of March 31, 2020 for the years 2020 and 2021 of the forecast, and a blend of forward strip pricing and third-party analyst pricing for the years 2022 through 2028. Other significant inputs used in the discounted cash flow analysis included proved and unproved reserves information, forecasts of operating expenditures, and the applicable discount rate. As a result, we recorded an other-than temporary impairment charge of $45.3 million in Equity losses from Laramie Energy, LLC on our consolidated statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020. Please read Note 15—Fair Value Measurements for further information. During the quarter ended June 30, 2020, Laramie Energy incurred additional losses that reduced the book value of our investment to zero and, as such, as of June 30, 2020, we discontinued the application of the equity method of accounting for our investment in Laramie Energy.

The change in our equity investment in Laramie Energy is as follows (in thousands):


	Year Ended December 31,
	2020
Beginning balance	$	46,905
Equity earnings (losses) from Laramie Energy (1)	(1,611)


Impairment of our investment in Laramie Energy	(45,294)

Ending balance (1)	$	—

________________________________________________________

(1)As of June 30, 2020, we discontinued the application of the equity method of accounting for our investment in Laramie Energy because the book value of such investment has been reduced to zero.