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Stock Options
9 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
Stock Options
11. 
Stock Options

On November 28, 2005, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Deep Well adopted the Deep Well Oil & Gas, Inc. Stock Option Plan (the “Plan”). The Plan was approved by a majority of shareholders at the February 24, 2010 general meeting of shareholders. The Plan, is administered by the Board, permits options to acquire shares of the Company’s common stock (the “Common Shares”) to be granted to directors, senior officers and employees of the Company and its subsidiaries, as well as certain consultants and other persons providing services to the Company or its subsidiaries.

The maximum number of shares, which may be reserved for issuance under the Plan, may not exceed 10% of the Company’s issued and outstanding Common Shares, subject to adjustment as contemplated by the Plan. The aggregate number of Common Shares with respect to which options may be vested to any one person (together with their associates) in any one year, together with all other incentive plans of the Company, may not exceed 500,000 Common Shares, and in total may not exceed 2% of the total number of Common Shares outstanding.

On November 28, 2010, all of the stock options granted to Dr. Horst A. Schmid, Portwest Investments Ltd., Mr. Curtis James Sparrow, Concorde Consulting, Trebax Projects Ltd., Mr. Cyrus Spaulding, Mr. Donald E.H. Jones and Mr. Moses Ling, expired unexercised. In total 2,727,500 options granted to directors and former directors and their controlled companies expired and no further options were granted.

On March 23, 2011, the Board approved to decrease the exercise price of the stock options to purchase 36,000 shares of common stock of Deep Well previously granted to an employee of the Company on September 20, 2007. The exercise price of the stock option is reduced from $0.47 per common share to $0.14 per common share, effective immediately. All other terms and conditions of the option agreement will remain unchanged. The options expire on September 20, 2012.

On March 23, 2011, the Company granted its directors, Dr. Horst A. Schmid, Mr. Said Arrata, Mr. Satya Das, Mr. David Roff, Mr. Curtis Sparrow and Mr. Malik Youyou, options to purchase 450,000 shares each of common stock at an exercise price of $0.14 per common share, 150,000 vesting immediately and the remaining vesting one-third on March 23, 2012, and one-third on March 23, 2013, with a five-year life.

For the period ended June 30, 2011, the Company recorded share based compensation expense related to stock options in the amount of $161,676 (September 30, 2010 - $nil) as 2,700,000 of new stock options have been issued. No options were exercised during the period ended June 30, 2011, therefore, the intrinsic value of the options exercised during the period ended June 30, 2011 is nil. As of June 30, 2011, there was remaining unrecognized compensation cost of $172,020 related to the non-vested portion of unit option awards. Compensation expense is based upon straight-line depreciation of the grant-date fair value over the vesting period of the underlying unit option.

   
Shares Underlying
Options Outstanding
   
Shares Underlying
Options Exercisable
 
Range of Exercise Prices
 
Shares
Underlying
Options
Outstanding
   
Weighted
Average
Remaining Contractual
Life
   
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
   
Shares
Underlying
Options Exercisable
   
Weighted
Average
Exercise
Price
 
                               
$0.47 at June 30, 2011
    240,000       0.97     $ 0.47       240,000     $ 0.47  
$0.14 at June 30, 2011
    2,736,000       4.68       0.14       2,736,000       0.14  
$0.71 at June 30, 2011
    375,000       0.32       0.71       375,000       0.71  
                                         
      3,351,000       3.93     $ 0.23       1,551,000     $ 0.23  

The aggregate intrinsic value of exercisable options as of June 30, 2011, was $nil (September 30, 2010 - $nil).

The following is a summary of stock option activity as at June 30, 2011:

   
Number of
Shares
   
Weighted
Average Exercise
Price
   
Weighted
Average Fair
Market Value
 
                   
Balance, September 30, 2010
    3,378,500     $ 0.69     $ 0.27  
Options forfeited November 28, 2010
    (2,727,500 )     0.71       0.27  
Options issued March 23, 2011
    2,700,000       0.14       0.12  
                         
Balance, June 30, 2011
    3,351,000     $ 0.23     $ 0.15  
                         
Exercisable, June 30, 2011
    3,351,000     $ 0.23     $ 0.15  

The following table summarizes the activity of the Company’s non-vested stock options since September 30, 2009:
 
   
Non-Vested Options
 
   
Number of
Shares
   
Weighted
Average
Exercise Price
 
             
Non-vested at September 30, 2010 and 2009
        $  
Options issued March 23, 2011
    2,700,000       0.14  
Options vested at June 30, 2011
    (900,000 )     0.14  
Non-vested at June 30, 2011
    1,800,000     $ 0.14  

Measurement Uncertainty

The Black-Scholes option-pricing model was developed for use in estimating the fair value of traded options that have no vesting restrictions and are fully transferable. Stock options and the warrants attached to the units issued by the Company are non-transferable. Option pricing models require the input of subjective assumptions including expected share price volatility. The fair value estimate can vary materially as a result of changes in the assumptions.