SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Interim Financial Statements, Basis of Presentation, Consolidation and Significant Estimates

The interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) but do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 (the “Annual Report”) filed with the SEC. The Company consolidates certain subsidiaries and joint ventures that are less than wholly-owned and are not involved in oil and natural gas exploration, including San Mateo, and the net income and equity attributable to the non-controlling interest in these subsidiaries have been reported separately as required by Accounting Standards Codification, Consolidation (Topic 810). The Company proportionately consolidates certain joint ventures that are less than wholly-owned and are involved in oil and natural gas exploration. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. In management’s opinion, these interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include all normal, recurring adjustments that are necessary for a fair presentation of the Company’s interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements as of September 30, 2018. Amounts as of December 31, 2017 are derived from the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements included in the Annual Report.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the financial statements and accompanying notes. These estimates and assumptions may also affect disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. The Company’s interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements are based on a number of significant estimates, including accruals for oil and natural gas revenues, accrued assets and liabilities primarily related to oil and natural gas and midstream operations, stock-based compensation, valuation of derivative instruments and oil and natural gas reserves. The estimates of oil and natural gas reserves quantities and future net cash flows are the basis for the calculations of depletion and impairment of oil and natural gas properties, as well as estimates of asset retirement obligations and certain tax accruals. While the Company believes its estimates are reasonable, changes in facts and assumptions or the discovery of new information may result in revised estimates. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Change in Accounting Principles

During the first quarter of 2018, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) (“ASC 606”), which specifies how and when to recognize revenue. This standard requires expanded disclosures surrounding revenue recognition and is intended to improve, and converge with international standards, the financial reporting requirements for revenue from contracts with customers. The Company adopted the new guidance using the modified retrospective approach. The adoption did not require an adjustment to opening accumulated deficit for any cumulative effect adjustment and did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets, statements of operations, statement of shareholders’ equity or statements of cash flows.

Prior to the adoption of ASC 606, the Company recorded oil and natural gas revenues at the time of physical transfer of such products to the purchaser. The Company followed the sales method of accounting for oil and natural gas sales, recognizing revenues based on the Company’s actual proceeds from the oil and natural gas sold to purchasers.

The Company enters into contracts with customers to sell its oil and natural gas production. With the adoption of ASC 606, revenue from these contracts is recognized in accordance with the five-step revenue recognition model prescribed in ASC 606. Specifically, revenue is recognized when the Company’s performance obligations under these contracts are satisfied, which generally occurs with the transfer of control of the oil and natural gas to the purchaser. Control is generally considered transferred when the following criteria are met: (i) transfer of physical custody, (ii) transfer of title, (iii) transfer of risk of loss and (iv) relinquishment of any repurchase rights or other similar rights. Given the nature of the products sold, revenue is recognized at a point in time based on the amount of consideration the Company expects to receive in accordance with the price specified in the contract. Consideration under the oil and natural gas marketing contracts is typically received from the purchaser one to two months after production.

The majority of the Company’s oil marketing contracts transfer physical custody and title at or near the wellhead, which is generally when control of the oil has been transferred to the purchaser. The majority of the oil produced is sold under contracts using market-based pricing, which price is then adjusted for differentials based upon delivery location and oil quality. To the extent the differentials are incurred at or after the transfer of control of the oil, the differentials are included in oil sales on the statements of operations as they represent part of the transaction price of the contract. If the differentials, or other related costs, are incurred prior to the transfer of control of the oil, those costs are included in production taxes, transportation and processing expenses on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations, as they represent payment for services performed outside of the contract with the customer.

The Company’s natural gas is sold at the lease location, at the inlet or outlet of a natural gas plant or at an interconnect near a marketing hub following transportation from a processing plant. The majority of the Company’s natural gas is sold under fee-based contracts. When the natural gas is sold at the lease, the purchaser gathers the natural gas and transports the natural gas via pipeline to natural gas processing plants where, if necessary, natural gas liquid (“NGL”) products are extracted. The NGL products and remaining residue gas are then sold by the purchaser, or if the Company elects to repurchase the natural gas, the Company sells the natural gas to a third party. Under the fee-based contracts, the Company receives NGL and residue gas value, less the fee component, or is invoiced the fee component. To the extent control of the natural gas transfers upstream of the transportation and processing activities, revenue is recognized as the net amount received from the purchaser. To the extent that control transfers downstream of those services, revenue is recognized on a gross basis, and the related costs are included in production taxes, transportation and processing expenses on the Company’s consolidated statements of operations.

The Company recognizes midstream services revenues at the time services have been rendered and the price is fixed and determinable. Third-party midstream services revenues are those revenues from midstream operations related to third parties, including working interest owners in the Company’s operated wells. All midstream services revenues related to the Company’s working interest are eliminated in consolidation. Since the Company has a right to payment from its customers in amounts that correspond directly to the value that the customer receives from the performance completed on each contract, the Company applies the practical expedient in ASC 606 that allows recognition of revenue in the amount for which there is a right to invoice the customer without estimating a transaction price for each contract and allocating that transaction price to the performance obligations within each contract.

The Company determined the impact on its consolidated financial statements as a result of adoption of ASC 606 was a $2.8 million and $7.6 million decrease in oil and natural gas revenues and a $2.8 million and $7.6 million decrease in production taxes, transportation and processing expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, which was not material. As a result of adoption of this standard, the Company is now required to disclose the following information regarding total revenues and revenues from contracts with customers on a disaggregated basis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 (in thousands).



	Three Months Ended September 30, 2018			Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018
Revenues from contracts with customers	$	223,091		$	620,539
Realized gain (loss) on derivatives	5,424			(1,322		)
Unrealized loss on derivatives	(21,337		)	(9,492		)
Total revenues	$	207,178		$	609,725



	Three Months Ended September 30, 2018		Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018
Oil revenues	$	169,913	$	484,343
Natural gas revenues	46,369		122,912
Third-party midstream services revenues	6,809		13,284
Total revenues from contracts with customers	$	223,091	$	620,539

The Company does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations under its contracts with customers as it applies the practical expedient in accordance with ASC 606. The expedient, as described in ASC 606-10-50-14(a), applies to variable consideration that is recognized as control of the product is transferred to the customer. Since each unit of product represents a separate performance obligation, future volumes are wholly unsatisfied and disclosure of the transaction price allocated to remaining performance obligations is not required.

During the first quarter of 2018, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230), which specifies that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. The Company adopted ASU 2016-18 effective January 1, 2018 and determined that the adoption of this ASU changed the presentation of its beginning and ending cash balances and eliminated the presentation of changes in restricted cash balances from investing activities in its consolidated statements of cash flows. The Company adopted the new guidance using the retrospective transition method; as a result, approximately $6.0 million and $1.3 million of restricted cash was added to the beginning cash balance for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

During the first quarter of 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2017-01, Business Combinations (Topic 805), which specifies the minimum inputs and processes required for an integrated set of assets and activities to meet the definition of a business. The Company adopted ASU 2017-01 prospectively, which did not have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Property and Equipment

The Company uses the full-cost method of accounting for its investments in oil and natural gas properties. Under this method, the Company is required to perform a ceiling test each quarter that determines a limit, or ceiling, on the capitalized costs of oil and natural gas properties based primarily on the after-tax estimated future net cash flows from oil and natural gas properties using a 10% discount rate and the arithmetic average of first-day-of-the-month oil and natural gas prices for the prior 12-month period. For both the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, the cost center ceiling was higher than the capitalized costs of oil and natural gas properties, and, as a result, no impairment charge was necessary.

The Company capitalized approximately $8.5 million and $6.1 million of its general and administrative costs for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and approximately $1.7 million and $2.1 million of its interest expense for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively. The Company capitalized approximately $22.6 million and $16.9 million of its general and administrative costs for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and approximately $6.2 million and $5.2 million of its interest expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

On September 12, 2018, the Company announced the successful acquisition of 8,400 gross (8,400 net) leasehold acres in Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico for approximately $387 million in the Bureau of Land Management New Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale on September 5 and 6, 2018 (the “BLM Acquisition”).

Earnings (Loss) Per Common Share

The Company reports basic earnings attributable to Matador Resources Company shareholders per common share, which excludes the effect of potentially dilutive securities, and diluted earnings attributable to Matador Resources Company shareholders per common share, which includes the effect of all potentially dilutive securities unless their impact is anti-dilutive.

The following table sets forth the computation of diluted weighted average common shares outstanding for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands).



	Three Months Ended September 30,		Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018	2017	2018	2017
Weighted average common shares outstanding
Basic	116,358	100,365	112,659	100,141
Dilutive effect of options and restricted stock units	554	139	549	439
Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding	116,912	100,504	113,208	100,580

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Leases. In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), which requires the recognition of lease assets and lease liabilities by lessees for those leases classified as operating leases under previous U.S. GAAP. This ASU will become effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018 with early adoption permitted. Entities are required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified retrospective approach. The modified retrospective approach includes a number of optional practical expedients that entities may elect to apply. These practical expedients relate to the identification and classification of leases that commenced before the effective date, initial direct costs for leases that commenced before the effective date and the ability to use hindsight in evaluating lessee options to extend or terminate a lease or to purchase the underlying asset. In January 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-01, Leases (Topic 842), which is a land easement practical expedient. The Company plans to use this practical expedient, and as a result, the Company will evaluate new or modified land easements under this ASU beginning at the date of adoption. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, Leases (Topic 842), which is a targeted improvement for comparative reporting requirements for initial adoption of ASU 2016-02. The Company plans to use the optional transition method to adopt ASU 2016-02, and the amendments provided for in ASU 2018-11 will allow the Company to initially apply the new lease standard at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Adoption of ASU 2016-02 will result in increased reported assets and liabilities. The quantitative impact of the new lease standard will depend on the leases in force at the time of adoption. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of these ASUs on its consolidated financial statements, including identifying all leases, as defined under the new lease standard, and quantifying the impact of the new lease standard on existing leases. The Company expects to adopt these ASUs as of January 1, 2019.

Stock Compensation. In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-07, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting. This ASU extends the scope of Topic 718 to include share-based payment transactions related to the acquisition of goods and services from nonemployees. Currently, the Company accounts for stock-based awards to special advisors and contractors under ASC 505-50 as liability instruments, and the fair value of the awards is recalculated each reporting period. Upon adoption, all such awards will be measured at fair value on the grant date and the resulting expense will be recognized on a straight-line basis over the awards’ vesting period. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018 with early adoption permitted. The transitional guidance requires entities to remeasure all unvested awards that are being accounted for under ASC 505-50 as liability instruments as of the beginning of the year in which this ASU is adopted. The Company expects to adopt this ASU as of January 1, 2019 and does not anticipate this ASU will have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.