FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2017

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Interim Financial Statements

The condensed consolidated financial statements of Stone Energy Corporation (“Stone” or the “Company”) and its subsidiaries as of September 30, 2017 (Successor) and for the three month period ended September 30, 2017 (Successor), the periods from March 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017 (Successor), January 1, 2017 through February 28, 2017 (Predecessor) and the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 (Predecessor) are unaudited and reflect all adjustments (consisting only of normal recurring adjustments), which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial position and operating results for the interim periods. The condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2016 (Predecessor) has been derived from the audited financial statements as of that date contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 (our “2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K”). The condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, together with management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations, contained in our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, although, as described below, such prior financial statements will not be comparable to the interim financial statements due to the adoption of fresh start accounting on February 28, 2017. For additional information, see Note 3 – Fresh Start Accounting. The results of operations for the period from March 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017 (Successor) are not necessarily indicative of future financial results. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to current period presentation.

Emergence from Voluntary Reorganization Under Chapter 11 Proceedings

On December 14, 2016, the Company and its subsidiaries Stone Energy Offshore, L.L.C. (“Stone Offshore”) and Stone Energy Holding, L.L.C. (together with the Company, the “Debtors”)filed voluntary petitions (the “Bankruptcy Petitions”) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (the “Bankruptcy Court”) seeking relief under the provisions of Chapter 11 of Title 11 (“Chapter 11”) of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). On February 15, 2017, the Bankruptcy Court entered an order (the “Confirmation Order”) confirming the Second Amended Joint Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization of Stone Energy Corporation and its Debtor Affiliates, dated December 28, 2016 (the “Plan”), as modified by the Confirmation Order, and on February 28, 2017, the Plan became effective (the “Effective Date”) and the Debtors emerged from bankruptcy, with the bankruptcy cases then being closed by Final Decree Closing Chapter 11 Cases and Terminating Claims Agent Services entered by the Bankruptcy Court on April 20, 2017.

Upon emergence from bankruptcy, the Company adopted fresh start accounting in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 852, “Reorganizations”, which resulted in the Company becoming a new entity for financial reporting purposes on the Effective Date. As a result of the adoption of fresh start accounting, the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements subsequent to February 28, 2017 will not be comparable to its financial statements prior to that date. See Note 3 – Fresh Start Accounting for further details on the impact of fresh start accounting on the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

References to “Successor” or “Successor Company” relate to the financial position and results of operations of the reorganized Company subsequent to February 28, 2017. References to “Predecessor” or “Predecessor Company” relate to the financial position and results of operations of the Company prior to, and including, February 28, 2017.

Use of Estimates

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles requires our management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the 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 bases its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions and information believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Estimates and assumptions about future events and their effects are uncertain and, accordingly, these estimates may change as new events occur, as additional information is obtained and as the Company’s operating environment changes. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Estimates are used primarily when accounting for depreciation, depletion and amortization (“DD&A”) expense, unevaluated property costs, estimated future net cash flows from proved reserves, costs to abandon oil and gas properties, income taxes, accruals of capitalized costs, operating costs and production revenue, capitalized general and administrative costs and interest, insurance recoveries, estimated fair value of derivative contracts, contingencies and fair value estimates, including estimates of reorganization value, enterprise value and the fair value of assets and liabilities recorded as a result of the adoption of fresh start accounting.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” to clarify the principles for recognizing revenue and to develop a common revenue standard and disclosure requirements. The standard may be applied retrospectively or using a modified retrospective approach, with the cumulative effect of initially applying ASU 2014-09 recognized at the date of initial application. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, deferring the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year. As a result, the standard is effective for interim and annual periods beginning on or after December 15, 2017. We expect to apply the modified retrospective approach upon adoption of this standard. Although we are still evaluating the effect that this new standard may have on our financial statements and related disclosures, we do not anticipate that the implementation of this new standard will have a material effect.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842)” to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and disclosing key information about leasing arrangements. The standard is effective for public entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, and for interim periods within those fiscal years, with earlier application permitted. Upon adoption the lessee will apply the new standard retrospectively to all periods presented or retrospectively using a cumulative effect adjustment in the year of adoption. We are currently evaluating the effect that this new standard may have on our financial statements and related disclosures.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, “Compensation – Stock Compensation (Topic 718)” to simplify several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions, including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, and forfeitures, as well as classification in the statement of cash flows. ASU 2016-09 became effective for us on January 1, 2017. Under ASU 2016-09, the Company elected to not apply a forfeiture estimate and will recognize a credit in compensation expense to the extent awards are forfeited. The implementation of this new standard did not have a material effect on our financial statements or related disclosures.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815)” to improve the financial reporting of hedging relationships to better reflect an entity’s hedging strategies. The standard expands an entity’s ability to apply hedge accounting for both non-financial and financial risk components and amends the presentation and disclosure requirements. Additionally, ASU 2017-12 eliminates the need to separately measure and report hedge ineffectiveness and generally requires the entire change in fair value of a hedging instrument to be recorded in the same income statement line as the earnings effect of the hedged item. The standard is effective for public companies for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018 and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted. The standard must be adopted by applying a modified retrospective approach to existing designated hedging relationships as of the adoption date, with a cumulative effect adjustment recorded to opening retained earnings as of the initial adoption date. We are currently evaluating the effect that this new standard may have on our financial statements and related disclosures.

Derivatives

Our hedging strategy is designed to protect our near and intermediate term cash flows from future declines in oil and natural gas prices. This protection is essential to capital budget planning, which is sensitive to expenditures that must be committed to in advance, such as rig contracts and the purchase of tubular goods. We enter into derivative transactions to secure a commodity price for a portion of our expected future production that is acceptable at the time of the transaction. We do not enter into derivative transactions for trading purposes.

All derivatives are recognized as assets or liabilities on the balance sheet and are measured at fair value. At the end of each quarterly period, these derivatives are marked-to-market. If the derivative does not qualify or is not designated as a cash flow hedge, subsequent changes in the fair value of the derivative are recognized in earnings through derivative income (expense) in the statement of operations. If the derivative qualifies and is designated as a cash flow hedge, subsequent changes in the fair value of the derivative are recognized in stockholders’ equity through other comprehensive income (loss), net of related taxes, to the extent the hedge is considered effective. Monthly settlements of effective hedges are reflected in revenue from oil and natural gas production. Monthly settlements of ineffective hedges and derivatives not designated or that do not qualify for hedge accounting are recognized in earnings through derivative income (expense). The resulting cash flows from all monthly settlements are reported as cash flows from operating activities.

Through December 31, 2016, we designated our commodity derivatives as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes upon entering into the contracts. A small portion of our cash flow hedges were typically determined to be ineffective because oil and natural gas price changes in the markets in which we sell our products were not 100% correlative to changes in the underlying price basis indicative in the derivative contract. We had no outstanding derivatives at December 31, 2016. With respect to our 2017, 2018 and 2019 commodity derivative contracts, we have elected to not designate these contracts as cash flow hedges for accounting purposes. Accordingly, the net changes in the mark-to-market valuations and the monthly settlements on these derivative contracts will be recorded in earnings through derivative income (expense).

We have entered into put contracts, fixed-price swaps and collar contracts with various counterparties for a portion of our expected 2017, 2018 and 2019 oil and natural gas production from the Gulf Coast Basin. All of our derivative transactions have been carried out in the over-the-counter market and are not typically subject to margin-deposit requirements. The use of derivative instruments involves the risk that the counterparties will be unable to meet the financial terms of such transactions. The counterparties to all of our derivative instruments have an “investment grade” credit rating. We monitor the credit ratings of our derivative counterparties on an ongoing basis. Although we typically enter into derivative contracts with multiple counterparties to mitigate our exposure to any individual counterparty, if any of our counterparties were to default on its obligations to us under the derivative contracts or seek bankruptcy protection, we may not realize the benefit of some of our derivative instruments and incur a loss. At November 1, 2017, our derivative instruments were with five counterparties, two of which accounted for approximately 64% of our contracted volumes. Currently, all of our outstanding derivative instruments are with lenders under our current bank credit facility. 

Put contracts are purchased at a rate per unit of hedged production that fluctuates with the commodity futures market. The historical cost of the put contract represents our maximum cash exposure. We are not obligated to make any further payments under the put contract regardless of future commodity price fluctuations. Under put contracts, monthly payments are made to us if the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”) prices fall below the agreed upon floor price, while allowing us to fully participate in commodity prices above the floor. Swaps typically provide for monthly payments by us if prices rise above the swap price or monthly payments to us if prices fall below the swap price. Collar contracts typically require payments by us if the NYMEX average closing price is above the ceiling price or payments to us if the NYMEX average closing price is below the floor price. Settlements for our oil put contracts, oil collar contracts and fixed-price oil swaps are based on an average of the NYMEX closing price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil during the entire calendar month. Settlements for our natural gas collar contracts and fixed-price natural gas swaps are based on the NYMEX price for the last day of a respective contract month.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments

U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles establish a fair value hierarchy that has three levels based on the reliability of the inputs used to determine the fair value. These levels include: Level 1, defined as inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs for use when little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.

As of September 30, 2017 (Successor) and December 31, 2016 (Predecessor), we held certain financial assets that are required to be measured at fair value on a recurring basis, including our commodity derivative instruments and our investments in marketable securities. We utilize the services of an independent third party to assist us in valuing our derivative instruments. The income approach is used in this determination utilizing the third party’s proprietary pricing model. The model accounts for our credit risk and the credit risk of our counterparties in the discount rate applied to estimated future cash inflows and outflows. Our swap contracts are included within the Level 2 fair value hierarchy, and our collar and put contracts are included within the Level 3 fair value hierarchy. Significant unobservable inputs used in establishing fair value for the collars and puts were the volatility impacts in the pricing model as it relates to the call portion of the collar and the floor of the put. For a more detailed description of our derivative instruments, see Note 9 – Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities. We used the market approach in determining the fair value of our investments in marketable securities, which are included within the Level 1 fair value hierarchy.