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Risks and Uncertainties
3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Risks and Uncertainties [Abstract]  
Risks and Uncertainties

14. Risks and Uncertainties

 

Concentration of Credit Risk

 

As of December 31, 2021, the Company had combined trade accounts and financing receivables from three customers of $8.1 million, $5.5 million and $3.0 million, respectively. During the three months ended December 31 2021, revenue recognized from these three customers was $4.6 million, $0.7 million and $3.2 million, respectively.

COVID-19 Pandemic

 

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the globe and has negatively impacted worldwide economic activity, including the global demand for oil and natural gas, and continues to create challenges in the Company’s markets. In addition to measures the Company has taken voluntarily, the government authorities in the Company’s markets have taken actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including travel restrictions, border closings, restrictions on public gatherings, stay-at-home orders and other quarantine and isolation measures. Following the initial outbreak of the virus, the Company experienced disruptions in its supply chain, a reduction in demand for certain products, cancellation of rental contracts and difficulty with field employees and salespeople traveling domestically and abroad to conduct the Company’s business. COVID-19 continues to pose the risk that the Company or its employees, contractors, suppliers and customers may be prevented from conducting business activities for an indefinite period of time. The effort to vaccinate the global population appears to be reducing the effects of COVID-19, but new mutations of the virus has allowed the continued spread of COVID–19. COVID-19 and the related mitigation measures have disrupted the Company’s supply chain, resulting in longer lead times in materials available from suppliers and extended the shipping time for these materials to reach the Company’s facilities. If COVID–19 continues to spread or the response to contain the COVID–19 pandemic is unsuccessful, the Company could experience a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. On September 4, 2021, OSHA issued a previously announced emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccination of their employees or, alternatively, require weekly COVID-19 testing and wearing of face coverings for employees; however, on January 13, 2022 the United States Supreme Court stayed implementation of the ETS. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will now review the substantive validity of the ETS, with a potential final review against the United States Supreme Court. The Company is actively monitoring the status of the ETS and is prepared to comply if needed.

Decrease in Oil Commodity Price Levels

Demand for many of the Company’s products and the profitability of its operations depend primarily on the level of worldwide oil and gas exploration activity. Prevailing oil and gas prices, with an emphasis on crude oil prices, and market expectations regarding potential changes in such prices significantly affect the level of worldwide oil and gas exploration activity. During periods of improved energy commodity prices, the capital spending budgets of oil and natural gas operators tend to expand, which results in increased demand for our customers services leading to increased demand in the Company’s products. Conversely, in periods when these energy commodity prices deteriorate, capital spending budgets of oil and natural gas operators tend to contract causing demand for the Company’s products to weaken. Historically, the markets for oil and gas have been volatile and are subject to wide fluctuations in response to changes in the supply of and demand for oil and gas, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors that are beyond its control. These factors include the level of consumer demand, regional and international economic conditions, weather conditions, domestic and foreign governmental regulations (including those related to climate change), price and availability of alternative fuels, political conditions, instability and hostilities in the Middle East and other significant oil-producing regions, increases and decreases in the supply of oil and gas, the effect of worldwide energy conservation measures and the ability of OPEC to set and maintain production levels and prices of foreign imports.

 

Sustained low oil prices or the failure of oil prices to rise in the future and the resulting downturns or lack of growth in the energy industry and energy‑related business, could have a negative impact on the Company’s results of operations and financial condition. In light of the decline in oil prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, oil and gas exploration and production ("E&P") companies experienced a significant reduction in cash flows, which resulted in reductions in their capital spending budgets for oil and gas exploration-focused activities, including seismic data acquisition activities. Demand for the sale of the Company's seismic products targeted at customers in its Oil and Gas Markets segment, which has historically accounted for the majority of its revenue, significantly declined during fiscal year 2020, and both product sales and rental revenue diminished during the first half of fiscal year 2021 as a result of significant uncertainty in the outlook for oil and gas exploration. Recently crude oil prices have increased, which should result in higher cash flows for E&P companies. The Company believes E&P companies are allocating their increased levels of cash flow toward debt reduction and shareholder reward initiatives, such as stock buy-back programs and dividend payments. The Company expects low demand for its Oil and Gas Markets segment products until E&P companies redirect their cash flows towards investments in exploration activities, especially seismic exploration. Any material changes in oil and gas prices or other market trends, like slowing growth of the global economy, could adversely impact seismic exploration activity and would likely affect the demand for the Company's products and could materially and adversely affect its results of operations and liquidity.

 

Generally, imbalances in the supply and demand for oil and gas will affect oil and gas prices and, in such circumstances, demand for the Company’s oil and gas products may be adversely affected when world supplies exceed demand.

 

A portion of the Company's oil and gas product manufacturing is conducted through its wholly-owned subsidiary Geospace Technologies Eurasia LLC, which is based in the Russian Federation. The Company's oil and gas business could be directly affected by political and economic conditions in the Russian Federation, including the current geopolitical instability involving the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Syria. United States sanctions against Russia have been expanded to preclude the export of oil and gas equipment anywhere in the world that involve persons designated under the sanctions and to include projects in which persons subject to the sanctions have a 33% ownership interest or a majority of voting interests. Together, these changes make it more difficult for the Company to support projects that have the potential to produce oil involving Russian energy companies. Furthermore, if an exporter is unable to determine whether its equipment will be used in such projects, the export is prohibited. In fiscal year 2021, the Company imported $1.2 million of products from Geospace Technologies Eurasia LLC for resale elsewhere in the world. If imports of these products from the Russian Federation are restricted by government regulation, the Company may be forced to find other sources for the manufacture of these products at potentially higher costs. The U.S. government and several other countries have threatened further severe economic and other sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine. Boycotts, protests, unfavorable regulations, additional governmental sanctions and other actions in the region could also adversely affect the Company's ability to operate profitably. Delays in obtaining governmental approvals can affect the Company's ability to timely deliver its products pursuant to contractual obligations, which could result in the Company being liable to it's customers for damages. The risk of doing business in the Russian Federation and other economically or politically volatile areas could adversely affect the Company's operations and earnings.

 

Certain of the Company's manufacturing capabilities could be at risk if the U.S. puts economic sanctions on Russia or if relations between the U.S. and Russia deteriorate.