SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Capitalized costs related to the exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas properties

Costs associated with production and general corporate activities are expensed in the period incurred. Capitalized costs are summarized as follows for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Capitalized Certain Payroll and Other Internal Costs	$	1,890,480	$	2,717,913	$	2,153,448
Capitalized Interest Costs	356,196		1,506,172		4,409,544
Total	$	2,246,676	$	4,224,085	$	6,562,992

The costs incurred in crude oil and natural gas acquisition, exploration and development activities are highlighted in the table below.



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Costs Incurred for the Year:
Proved Property Acquisition and Other	$	18,531,518	$	9,068,139	$	29,838,482
Unproved Property Acquisition	2,301,285		3,346,214		27,561,901
Development	63,621,429		116,255,535		479,472,251
Total	$	84,454,232	$	128,669,888	$	536,872,634

Defined prices for each quarter

SEC defined prices for each quarter-end in 2016 were as follows:



SEC Defined Prices for 12-Months Ended	NYMEX Oil Price (per Bbl)		Henry Hub Gas Price (per MMBtu)
December 31, 2016	$	42.75	$	2.49
September 30, 2016	41.68		2.28
June 30, 2016	43.12		2.24
March 31, 2016	46.26		2.39

The twelve month average prices were adjusted to reflect applicable transportation and quality differentials on a well-by-well basis to arrive at realized sales prices used to estimate the Company’s reserves. The price of other liquids is included in natural gas. The prices for the Company’s reserve estimates were as follows:



	Natural Gas MCF		Oil Bbl
December 31, 2016	$	1.67	$	35.24
December 31, 2015	$	1.63	$	42.03
December 31, 2014	$	7.37	$	83.11

Reconciliation of denominators used to calculate basic and diluted EPS

The reconciliation of the denominators used to calculate basic EPS and diluted EPS for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 are as follows:



	Years Ended December 31,
	2016	2015	2014
Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding – Basic	61,173,547	60,652,447	60,691,701
Plus: Potentially Dilutive Common Shares Including Stock Options and Restricted Stock	—	—	169,068
Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding – Diluted	61,173,547	60,652,447	60,860,769
Restricted Stock and Stock Options Excluded From EPS Due To The Anti-Dilutive Effect	829,313	322,393	15,590