During the quarter ended March 31, 2020, impairment of $19.3 million and $7.3 million was recorded on our Fayetteville Shale and Eagle Ford fields, respectively. The remaining $2.7 million of impairment was taken on other producing assets. The discounted cash flows of the properties were prepared using NYMEX strip pricing as of March 31, 2020, using a discount rate of 10% for proved developed and assigning no value to undeveloped locations. The Fayetteville Shale assets are dry-gas assets of which the Company acquired a portion in 2011. Low natural gas prices at March 31, 2020, were the primary reason for impairment in this field. The Company recognized an impairment related to the Eagle Ford at September 30, 2019, discussed below. The further impairment of the Eagle Ford assets at March 31, 2020, was due to the decline in commodity prices over fiscal 2020.

At the end of 2019, impairment of $76.6 million was recorded on our Eagle Ford assets. The remaining $0.3 million of impairment was taken on other assets. The impairment on the Eagle Ford assets was caused by the Company making the strategic decision to cease participating with a working interest on its mineral and leasehold acreage going forward and therefore removing all working interest PUDs from the Company’s reserve reports. The removal of the PUDs caused the Eagle Ford assets to fail the step one test for impairment, as its undiscounted cash flows were not high enough to cover the book basis of the assets. These assets were written down to their fair market value as required by GAAP. The Company determined the fair value based on discounted cash flows of the properties as well as active market bids received from interested potential buyers. The discounted cash flows of the properties were prepared using NYMEX strip pricing as of year-end, using a discount rate of 10% for proved developed and assigning no value to undeveloped locations. Market bids received from interested potential buyers corroborated the fair value of the discounted cash flows as of year-end. The fair value was determined to be $9.1 million based on the discounted cash flows and market quotes. The Company decided not to sell the assets after the marketing process was complete, as we believed that the market conditions were not ideal for selling at that time and that the highest and best use of the assets was to continue to own and produce out the Eagle Ford properties.

A further reduction in natural gas, oil and NGL prices or a decline in reserve volumes may lead to additional impairment in future periods that may be material to the Company.

During the 2020 fiscal year, the Company sold 530 net mineral acres in Eddy County, New Mexico, for $3,376,049 and recorded a net gain on sales of $3,272,499. The total net book value that was removed from the Balance Sheets due to this sale was approximately $104,000. The Company utilized a like-kind exchange under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 to defer income tax on all of the gain by offsetting it with the STACK/SCOOP mineral acreage acquisition that was purchased during the quarter using qualified exchange accommodation. The Company also sold 5,925 open and non-producing net mineral acres in Northwest Oklahoma for $769,745 and recorded a net gain on sales of $717,640. The total net book value that was removed from the Balance Sheets due to this sale was approximately $52,000. On the Statements of Operations, the net gain is reflected in the Gain on asset sales line item.

During the 2019 fiscal year, the Company sold 112 non-core wells and 890 net mineral and non-participating royalty interest acres for $19,515,735 and recorded a net gain on sales of $18,730,197. The total net book value that was removed from the Balance Sheets due to these sales was approximately $786,000. On the Statements of Operations, the net gain is reflected in the Gain on asset sales line item with a balance of $18,973,426 with an offset to the Loss on asset sales line item in the amount of $243,228.

During the 2020 fiscal year, the Company closed on the purchase of 700 net mineral acres in Kingfisher, Canadian and Garvin Counties, Oklahoma, for a purchase price of $9,293,384 (after customary closing adjustments). These mineral purchases were accounted for as asset acquisitions.

During the 2019 fiscal year, the Company acquired mineral acreage in the cores of the Bakken in North Dakota and the STACK and SCOOP plays in Oklahoma. The Company acquired a total of 790 net mineral acres for $5,727,257 or an average of approximately $7,200 per net mineral acre. These mineral purchases were accounted for as asset acquisitions.

The following table shows the activity for the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, relating to the Company’s asset retirement obligations:

	2020			2019
Asset retirement obligations as of beginning of the year	$	2,835,781		$	2,809,378
Wells acquired or drilled		4			27,783
Wells sold or plugged		(68,668	)		(134,090	)
Accretion of discount		130,405			132,710
Asset retirement obligations as of end of the year	$	2,897,522		$	2,835,781

As a non-operator, the Company does not control the plugging of wells in which it has a working interest and is not involved in the negotiation of the terms of the plugging contracts. This estimate relies on information gathered from outside sources as well as relevant information received directly from operators.