2. INVESTMENT IN OIL AND GAS PROPERTIES

Investment in oil and gas properties consists entirely of our Concession in offshore Guinea, West Africa. We previously owned a 37% participating interest in our Guinea Concession on June 30, 2016. On August 19, 2016, we signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Guinea and executed a Second Amendment to the PSC (“2016 Amendment”) on September 15, 2016 and received a Presidential Decree on September 21, 2016 giving us a one year extension to the second exploration period of the PSC to September 22, 2017 (“PSC Extension Period”) and reaffirming that we now own 100% of the Concession.

One part of our settlement with Tullow and Dana included the relinquishment of their respective 40% and 23% participating interests in the Concession. Hyperdynamics now owns 100% of the participating interests in the Concession.

In addition to clarifying certain elements of the PSC, we agreed in the 2016 Amendment to drill one (1) exploratory well to a minimum depth of 2,500 meters below the seabed within the PSC Extension Period with a projected commencement date of April 2017 (the “Extension Well”) with the option of drilling additional wells. If the Extension Well is not drilled within the PSC Extension Period, we will owe the Government of Guinea the difference between the actual expenditures in Guinea related to the well and $46 million. Fulfillment of the work obligations exempts us from the expenditure obligations during the PSC Extension Period. In the event a discovery is made, the terms of the PSC make us eligible for a two-year appraisal period during which we are obliged either to declare that the reserves are commerciality viable or that we decide that the PSC shall terminate.

In turn, we will retain only an area equivalent to approximately 5,000 square kilometers in the Guinea offshore and will provide the Government of Guinea: (1) A parent company guarantee for the well obligation, (2) monthly progress reports and a reconciliation of budget to actual expenditures, (failure to provide the reports and assurances on a timely basis could result in a notice of termination with a 30 day period to cure), and (3) guarantees to the Guinea Government that (a) no later than January 21, 2017 we will provide a mutually acceptable security for $5,000,000 on terms customary in international petroleum operations, provided that this security is to be released at the time the drilling rig for the Extension Well is on location offshore Guinea, and (b) no later than April 12, 2017, we will deliver a mutually acceptable security for the difference between $46 million and the amount spent to date on the Extension Well.

For the purposes of calculation for this clause, however, only costs spent for services and goods provided in Guinea shall be taken into account until the drilling rig to be used in the drilling of the Extension Well is located in the territorial waters of the Republic of Guinea. If we do not provide either security by the specified dates, the Government of Guinea may terminate the PSC immediately and without prior notice to remedy such deficiency.

Additionally, we agreed to limit the cost recovery pool to date to our share of expenditures in the PSC since 2009 (estimated to be approximately $150,000,000) and move into the territory of Guinea the long lead items we received in the Settlement Agreement that are currently in Takoradi, Ghana for the drilling of the Extension Well by January 31, 2017. Finally, we agreed to allocate and administer a training budget during the PSC Extension Period for the benefit of the Guinea National Petroleum Office of $250,000 in addition to any unused portion of the training program under Article 10.3 of the PSC, estimated to be approximately $500,000.

Failure to comply with the drilling and other obligations of the PSC as amended subjects us to financial penalties and a risk of loss of the Concession. The continued delays have affected adversely the ability to explore the Concession and reduce the attractiveness of the Concession to prospective industry participants and financing sources. While we currently hold 100% of the Concession, it is unknown whether we will be able to raise the necessary funds to drill the exploratory well during the PSC Extension Period.

We follow the “Full-Cost” method of accounting for oil and natural gas property and equipment costs. Under this method, internal costs incurred that were directly identified with exploration, development, and acquisition activities undertaken by us for our own account, and which were not related to production, general corporate overhead, or similar activities, are capitalized. Capitalization of internal costs was discontinued April 1, 2013 when Tullow became the operator. Hyperdynamics became the operator after the signing of the Second Amendment of the PSC on September 15, 2016 and thus capitalization of certain internal costs has resumed. For the three month period ended September 30, 2016, we capitalized $170,000 of such costs.

Geological and geophysical costs incurred that are directly associated with specific unproved properties are capitalized in “Unproved properties excluded from amortization” and evaluated as part of the total capitalized costs associated with a prospect. The cost of unproved properties not being amortized is assessed to determine whether such properties have been impaired. In determining whether such costs should be impaired, we evaluate current drilling plans and drilling results and available geological and geophysical information. No reserves have been attributed to the Concession.

The following table provides detail of total capitalized costs for the Concession which remain unproved and unevaluated and are excluded from amortization as of September 30, 2016 and June 30, 2016 (in thousands):

	September 30, 2016		June 30, 2016
Oil and Gas Properties:
Unproved properties excluded from amortization	$	4,733	$	—

During the three month period ended September 30, 2016, our oil and gas property balance increased by $4,733 thousand as a result of newly incurred geological and geophysical costs and capitalized general and administrative costs, as well as the fair value of the material received in our settlement with Tullow and Dana. The fair value of the material, for the most part well construction material, at the time of the settlement is approximately $4.4 million. Our preliminary estimate of the fair value of the material could change once the valuation report is delivered to us in its final form.

As of June 30, 2016 at the close of our last fiscal year we fully impaired the $14.3 million of previously capitalized unproved oil and gas property costs. That impairment assessment was based on the continued impasse at the time by our members of the Consortium to resume petroleum operations and drill the next exploration obligation well, which needed to be commenced by the end of September 2016, and our inability at the time to get interim injunctive relief from the American Arbitration Association requiring Tullow and Dana to join with SCS in the negotiation of an acceptable amendment to the PSC and to agree to a process that would result in the execution of the amendment which we hoped would have led to the resumption of petroleum operations by the Consortium. Thus, we believed all legal measures to require Tullow and Dana to drill the planned exploration well had been exhausted.