GSPE Gulfslope Energy Inc (CE)

Risk Factors

Investing in our common stock involves risks that include the speculative nature of oil and natural gas exploration, competition, volatile oil and natural gas prices and other material factors. You should read carefully the section of this prospectus entitled “Risk Factors” beginning on page 8 for an explanation of these risks before investing in our common stock. In particular, the following considerations may offset our competitive strengths or have a negative effect on our strategy or operating activities, which could cause a decrease in the price of our common stock and a loss of all or part of your investment:

Corporate Information

Our address is 1331 Lamar St., Suite 1665, Houston, Texas 77010, and our telephone number is (281) 918-4100. Our web site can be accessed at www.gulfslope.com. The contents of our website do not form a part of, and are not incorporated by reference in, this prospectus or any Offering Statement that we have filed with the SEC. You may access and read our SEC filings through the SEC’s web site (www.sec.gov), which contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants, including us, that file electronically with the SEC.

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider each of the following risks, together with all other information set forth in this prospectus, including the consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018, as updated in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended December 31, 2018, March 31, 2019 and June 30, 2019, before deciding whether to invest in our common stock.. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Other risks and uncertainties, including those that we do not currently consider material, may impair our business. If any of the adverse developments discussed below actually occur, our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. This could cause the value of our common stock to decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to Our Business and Financial Condition

Our business plan requires substantial additional capital, which we may be unable to raise on acceptable terms, if at all, which may in turn limit our ability to execute our business strategy.

We have planned operating expenditures through September 2020, of approximately $10.0 million, which includes $6.0 million for drilling related capital expenditures, $1.5 million of other operations related expenditures to include but not limited to bonus payments for new leases and lease rentals to the BOEM and seismic reprocessing costs, and $2.5 million in general and administrative expenses. We will need to raise additional capital in 2020 and may be required to enter into debt and equity financing arrangements and joint ventures. There is no assurance that we will be able to raise the capital necessary to fund our business plan and our operations through September 2020. Failure to raise the required capital to fund our 2020 operations, on favorable terms or at all, will have a material adverse effect on us, and will likely cause us to curtail operations or suspend our 2020 business plan.

We expect our capital outlays and operating expenditures to increase substantially over at least the next several years as we expand our operations. Lease acquisition costs and drilling operations are very expensive, and if we are to expand our operations after 2019 we will need to raise substantial additional capital through additional equity offerings, strategic alliances or debt financing.

Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

To the extent we are able to raise capital through equity financings, they may be dilutive to our stockholders. Alternative forms of future financings may include preferred stock with preferences or rights superior to our common stock. Debt financings may involve a pledge of assets and will rank senior to our common stock. We have historically financed our operations through best efforts private equity and debt financings. We do not have any credit or equity facilities available with financial institutions, stockholders or third party investors, and will continue to rely on best efforts financings. There is no assurance that we can raise the capital necessary to expand our operations. Failure to raise the required capital to fund operations, on favorable terms or at all, will have a material adverse effect on us, and will likely cause us to curtail or cease operations. 

Our financial statements express substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, raising questions as to our continued existence.

We have incurred losses since our inception resulting in an accumulated deficit of approximately $54.6 million at June 30, 2019, and we have a net capital deficiency. Further losses are anticipated as we continue to develop our business. To continue as a going concern, we estimate that we will need approximately $10 million to meet our obligations and planned operating expenditures through September 2020. The $10 million is comprised primarily of capital project expenditures as well as general and administrative expenses. It does not include any amounts due under outstanding debt obligations, which amounted to $11.6 million of current principal and interest as of June 30, 2019. We plan to finance our operations through equity and/or debt financings, and strategic alliances. There are no assurances that financing will be available with acceptable terms, if at all. If we are not successful in obtaining financing, our operations would need to be curtailed or ceased or the Company would need to sell assets or consider alternative plans up to and including restructuring.

If we fail to establish and maintain proper internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements or comply with applicable regulations could be impaired.

We are required to comply with certain provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). Section 404 requires that we document and test our internal control over financial reporting and issue management’s assessment of our internal control over financial reporting. In our annual report for the year ended September 30, 2018, we identified and disclosed material weaknesses related to the failure to record interest on an interest bearing payable and failure to accurately value a fair value financial instrument issued in settlement of a liability. These errors are a result of insufficient control activities related to the review and monitoring of Company contracts to ensure the proper accounting for such contracts. In connection with the restatement of our condensed financial statements, as of March 31, 2019 and for the three and six-months ended, we identified an additional material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This additional material weakness is due to a lack of effective controls over the valuation of accounts receivable which resulted in a material error in the financial statements. In an attempt to remediate the material weaknesses, management has developed a contract review process, increased the use of external consultants and is investigating expansion of the accounting department in its ongoing remediation efforts of the material weaknesses. We also are developing a plan for remediation of controls over the valuation of accounts receivable from joint operations.

If we fail to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the accuracy and timeliness of the filing of our annual and quarterly reports may be materially adversely affected and could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our Common Stock.

We have no proved reserves and areas that we decide to drill may not yield oil and natural gas in commercial quantities or quality, or at all.

We have no proved reserves. We have identified prospects based on available seismic and geological information that indicates the potential presence of oil and natural gas. However, the areas we decide to drill may not yield oil and natural gas in commercial quantities or quality, or at all. Most of our current prospects are in various stages of evaluation that will require substantial additional seismic data reprocessing and interpretation. Even when properly used and interpreted, 3-D seismic data and visualization techniques are only tools used to assist geoscientists in identifying subsurface structures and hydrocarbon indicators and do not enable the interpreter to know whether hydrocarbons are, in fact, present in those structures. We have drilled two wells, one of which is currently being evaluated. Accordingly, we do not know if our prospects will contain oil and natural gas in sufficient quantities or quality to recover drilling and completion costs or to be economically viable. Even if oil and natural gas is found on our prospects in commercial quantities, construction costs of pipelines and other transportation costs may prevent such prospects from being economically viable. If one or more of our prospects do not prove to be successful, our business, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected.

We are substantially dependent on certain members of our management and technical team.

Investors in our common stock must rely upon the ability, expertise, judgment and discretion of our management and the success of our technical team in identifying and acquiring leasehold interests, as well as discovering and developing any oil and gas reserves. Our performance and success are dependent, in part, upon key members of our management and technical team, and their loss or departure could be detrimental to our future success. In making a decision to invest in our common stock, you must be willing to rely to a significant extent on our management’s discretion and judgment. The loss of any of our management and technical team members could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition, as well as on the market price of our common stock. We may not be able to find replacement personnel with comparable skills. If we are unable to attract and retain key personnel, our business may be adversely affected. We do not currently maintain key-man insurance on any member of the management team.

The seismic data we use are subject to non-exclusive license arrangements and may be licensed to our competitors, which could adversely affect the execution of our acquisition strategy and business plan.

Our 3-D seismic license agreements are non-exclusive, industry-standard agreements. Accordingly, the licensor of such seismic data has the right to license the same data that we acquired to our competitors, which could adversely affect our acquisition strategy and the execution of our business plan. We are not authorized to assign any of our rights under our license agreements, including a transaction with a potential joint venture partner or acquirer, without complying with the terms of the license agreements and a payment to the licensor (by us or the acquirer in the event of a change of control transaction or our partner in a joint venture transaction). However, our interpretation of this seismic data and importantly, reprocessing and the modeling of certain seismic data utilized to identify and technically support oil and gas prospects, is unique and proprietary to the Company.

We are an oil and natural gas exploration company with limited operating history, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in executing our business plan. We may never attain profitability.

We commenced our business activity in March 2013, when we entered into 3-D license agreements covering approximately 2.2 million acres, and have entered into additional 3-D license agreements with seismic companies to acquire additional data and reprocess seismic data. While we intend to engage in the drilling, development, and production of oil and natural gas in the future, we currently have no reserves or production. As we are a relatively new business, we are subject to all the risks and uncertainties, which are characteristic of a new business enterprise, including the substantial problems, expenses and other difficulties typically encountered in the course of its business, in addition to normal business risks, as well as those risks that are specific to the oil and gas industry. Investors should evaluate us in light of the delays, expenses, problems and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies developing markets for new products, services and technologies. We may never overcome these obstacles.

We may be unable to access the capital markets to obtain additional capital that we will require to implement our business plan, which would restrict our ability to grow.

Our current capital on hand is insufficient to enable us to execute our business strategy beyond December 2019. Though, our inability to complete the agreement to extend the maturity date of the $1.0 million remaining balance of the Delek term loan due October 19, 2019 could further effect our liquidity and business plan. Because we are a company with limited resources, we may not be able to compete in the capital markets with much larger, established companies that have ready access to capital. Our ability to obtain needed financing may be impaired by conditions and instability in the capital markets (both generally and in the oil and gas industry in particular), our status as a new enterprise without a demonstrated operating history, the location of our leases and prices of oil and natural gas on the commodities markets (which will impact the amount of financing available to us), and/or the loss of key consultants and management. Further, if oil and/or natural gas prices on the commodities markets continue to decrease, then potential revenues, if any, will decrease, which may increase our requirements for capital. Some of the future contractual arrangements governing our operations may require us to maintain minimum capital (both from a legal and practical perspective), and we may lose our contractual rights if we do not have the required minimum capital. If the amount of capital we can raise is not sufficient, we may be required to curtail or cease our operations.

We have a limited operating history with significant losses and expect losses to continue for the foreseeable future.

We have incurred annual operating losses since our inception. As a result, at June 30, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $54.6 million. We had no revenues in 2018 and do not anticipate generating revenues in fiscal 2019, or in subsequent periods unless we are successful in discovering economically recoverable oil or gas reserves. We expect that our operating expenses will increase as we develop our projects. We expect continued losses in fiscal year 2019, and thereafter until future discoveries are brought online and we begin producing oil and gas.

The terms of the definitive documents governing the Term Loan Facility may restrict our operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes or take certain actions. If we are unable to repay the Term Loan Facility as it becomes due, we may be unable to continue as a going concern.

On March 1, 2019, we entered into a Term Loan Agreement by and among GulfSlope, as borrower, and Delek, as lender. In the Term Loan Agreement, Delek agreed to provide us with multiple draw term loans in an aggregate stated principal amount of up to $11.0 million (the “Term Loan Facility” and the loans thereunder, the “Loans”). Borrowings under the Term Loan Facility mature in six months and bear interest at the rate of 5.0% and are secured by the assets of the Company. As of the date of this prospectus there is $1.0 million outstanding under the Term Loan Facility and no additional amounts available to be borrowed. The maturity date of the $1,000,000 remaining balance of the term loan is October 19, 2019 and an agreement is being negotiated to extend the maturity date.

The definitive documents governing the Term Loan Facility contain a number of restrictive covenants that impose operating and financial restrictions on us and limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest, including restrictions on the ability to: incur indebtedness, grant liens, undergo certain fundamental changes, dispose of assets, make investments, enter into transactions with affiliates, and make certain restricted payments, in each case subject to limitations and exceptions to be set forth in the definitive documentation for the Term Loan Facility. The definitive documentation governing the Term Loan Facility also contains customary events of default that include, among other things, certain payment defaults, covenant defaults, cross-defaults to other indebtedness, change of control defaults, judgment defaults, and bankruptcy and insolvency defaults. Such events of default may allow the creditor to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations and financial results. Furthermore, if we are unable to repay the amounts due and payable under the definitive documentation governing our Term Loan Facility, the lender could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure that indebtedness which could force us into bankruptcy or liquidation. In the event our lender accelerated the repayment of the borrowings, we may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness. Any acceleration of amounts due under the Term Loan Facility would likely have a material adverse effect on us and would threaten our ability to continue as a going concern. As a result of these restrictions, we may be limited in how we conduct business; unable to continue our business operations; unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; or unable to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities.

Our lack of diversification increases the risk of an investment in our common stock.

Our business will focus on the oil and gas industry in commercially advantageous offshore areas of the United States. Larger companies have the ability to manage their risk by diversification. However, we lack diversification, in terms of both the nature and geographic scope of our business. As a result, factors affecting our industry, or the regions in which we operate, will likely impact us more acutely than if our business were diversified.

Strategic relationships upon which we rely are subject to change, which may diminish our ability to conduct our operations.

Our ability to successfully bid on and acquire properties, to discover resources, to participate in drilling opportunities and to identify and enter into commercial arrangements with customers and partners, depends on developing and maintaining close working relationships with industry participants and on our ability to select and evaluate suitable properties. Further, we must consummate transactions in a highly competitive environment. These realities are subject to change and may impair our ability to grow.

To develop our business, we will endeavor to use the relationships of our management and to enter into strategic relationships, which may take the form of joint ventures with other private parties or with local government bodies or contractual arrangements with other oil and gas companies, including those that supply equipment and other resources that we will use in our business. We may not be able to establish these strategic relationships, or if established, we may not be able to maintain them. In addition, the dynamics of our relationships with strategic partners may require that we incur expenses or undertake activities we would not otherwise incur or undertake in order to fulfill our obligations to these partners or maintain our relationships. If our strategic relationships are not established or maintained, our business prospects may be limited, which could diminish our ability to conduct our operations.

Competition in obtaining rights to explore and develop oil and gas reserves may impair our business.

The oil and gas industry is extremely competitive. Present levels of competition for oil and gas leases and drilling rights are high worldwide. Other oil and gas companies with greater resources may compete with us by bidding for leases and drilling rights, as well as other properties and services we may need to operate our business. Additionally, other companies may compete with us in obtaining capital from investors. Competitors include larger, established exploration and production companies, which have access to greater financial and other resources than we have currently, and may be more successful in the recruitment and retention of qualified employees and may conduct their own refining and petroleum marketing operations, giving them a competitive advantage. In addition, actual or potential competitors may be strengthened through the acquisition of additional assets and interests. Because of some or all of these factors, we may not be able to compete.

We may not be able to effectively manage our growth, which may harm our future profitability.

We are currently not profitable however, our strategy envisions building and expanding our business in order to become profitable. If we fail to effectively manage our growth, our financial results will be adversely affected. Growth may place a strain on our management systems and resources. We must continue to refine and expand our business development capabilities, our systems, processes, and our access to financing sources. As we grow, we must continue to hire, train, supervise and manage new employees. We cannot assure you that we will be able to:

If we are unable to manage our growth and our operations, our financial results could be adversely affected, which could prevent us from ever attaining profitability.

Any change to government regulation/administrative practices may have a negative impact on our ability to operate profitably.

The laws, regulations, policies or current administrative practices of any government body, organization or regulatory agency impacting any jurisdiction where we might conduct our business activities, including the BOEM and EPA, may be changed, applied or interpreted in a manner which may fundamentally alter the ability of the Company to conduct business. The actions, policies or regulations, or changes thereto, of any government body or regulatory agency or other special interest groups, may have a detrimental effect on us. Any or all of these situations may have a negative impact on our ability to operate profitably. Additionally, certain bonding and/or insurance may be required in jurisdictions in which we chose to have operations, increasing our costs to operate.

Risks Related to Our Industry

An extended decline in oil prices and significant fluctuations in energy prices may continue indefinitely, affecting the commercial viability of our projects and negatively affecting our business prospects and viability.

The commercial viability of our projects is highly dependent on the price of oil and natural gas. Prices also affect our ability to borrow money or raise additional capital. We will need to obtain additional financing to fund our activities. Our ability to do so may be adversely affected by an extended decline in oil prices. If we are unable to obtain such financing when needed, on commercially reasonable terms, we may be required to cease our operations, which could have a materially adverse impact on the market price of our stock. An extended decline in oil prices may have a material adverse effect on our planned operations, financial condition and level of expenditures that we may ultimately have to make for the development of any oil and natural gas reserves we may acquire.

The oil and gas markets are very volatile, and we cannot predict future oil and natural gas prices. Historically, oil and natural gas prices have been volatile and are subject to fluctuations in response to changes in supply and demand, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors that are beyond our control. In addition, the prices we receive for any future production and the levels of any future production and reserves will depend on numerous factors beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

Further, oil and natural gas prices do not necessarily fluctuate in direct relationship to each other. The price of oil has been extremely volatile, and we expect this volatility to continue for the foreseeable future. For example, during the period from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2018, NYMEX West Texas Intermediate oil prices ranged from a high of $107.95 per bbl to a low of $26.19 per bbl. Average daily prices for NYMEX Henry Hub gas ranged from a high of $8.15 per MMBtu to a low of $1.49 per MMBtu during the same period. This near term volatility may affect future prices in 2019 and beyond. The volatility of the energy markets makes it difficult to predict future oil and natural gas price movements with any certainty.

Exploration for oil and natural gas is risky and may not be commercially successful, impairing our ability to generate revenues.

Oil and natural gas exploration involves a high degree of risk. These risks are more acute in the early stages of exploration. We may not discover oil or natural gas in commercially viable quantities. It is difficult to project the costs of implementing an exploratory drilling program due to the inherent uncertainties of drilling in unknown formations, the costs associated with encountering various drilling conditions, such as over pressured zones (which may lead to blowouts, fires, and explosions) and tools lost in the hole, and changes in drilling plans, locations as a result of prior exploratory wells or additional seismic data and interpretations thereof, and final commercial terms negotiated with partners. Developing exploratory oil and gas properties requires significant capital expenditures and involves a high degree of financial risk. The budgeted costs of drilling, completing, and operating exploratory wells are often exceeded and can increase significantly when drilling costs rise. Drilling may be unsuccessful for many reasons, including title problems, adverse weather conditions (which may be more frequent as climate changes), cost overruns, equipment shortages, mechanical difficulties, and environmental hazards (including spills and toxic gas releases). There is no assurance that we will successfully complete any wells or if successful, that the wells would be economically successful. Moreover, the successful drilling or completion of any oil or gas well does not ensure a profit on investment. Exploratory wells bear a much greater risk of loss than development wells. We cannot assure you that our exploration, exploitation and development activities will result in profitable operations, the result of which will materially adversely affect our business.

Oil and natural gas operations are subject to comprehensive regulation which may cause substantial delays or require capital outlays in excess of those anticipated, causing an adverse effect on the Company.

Oil and natural gas operations are subject to national, state, and local laws relating to the protection of the environment, including laws regulating removal of natural resources from the ground, spill response capabilities, and the discharge of materials into the environment. Oil and natural gas operations are also subject to national, state, and local laws and regulations, which seek to maintain health and safety standards by regulating the design and use of drilling methods and equipment. Environmental standards imposed by national, state or local authorities may be changed and any such changes may have material adverse effects on our activities. Moreover, compliance with such laws may cause substantial delays or require capital outlays in excess of those anticipated, thus causing an adverse effect on us. Additionally, we may be subject to liability for pollution or other environmental damages which we are unlikely to insure against fully due to prohibitive premium costs and other reasons. To date, we have not been required to spend any amounts on compliance with environmental regulations; however, we may be required to expend substantial sums in the future as we develop projects, and this may affect our ability to begin, maintain, or expand our operations.

We may be dependent upon third party operators of any oil and natural gas properties we may acquire.

Third parties may act as the operators of our oil and natural gas wells and control the drilling and operating activities to be conducted on our properties, if and when such assets are acquired. Therefore, we may have limited control over certain decisions related to activities on our properties relating to the timing, costs, procedure, and location of drilling or production activities, which could affect the Company’s results.

Our leases may be terminated if we are unable to make future lease payments or if we do not drill in a timely manner.

The failure to timely affect all lease related payments could cause the leases to be terminated by the BOEM. Net lease rental obligations on our existing prospects are expected to be approximately $0.5 million in fiscal year 2019. Our leases have a five-year primary term, expiring in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Each lease may be extended by drilling a well capable of producing hydrocarbons and submitting a Plan of Production approved by the regulatory authorities. In addition, the terms of our leases may be extended for an additional three years, provided a well is spud targeting hydrocarbons with a true vertical depth in excess of 25,000 feet within the primary term of the lease. In addition, the terms of our leases may also be extended by the granting of a Subsalt Lease Term Extension, should we elect to apply and qualify for said extension on any lease(s). If we are not successful in raising additional capital, we may be unable to successfully exploit our properties, and we may lose the rights to develop these properties upon the expiration of our leases. If not successful in securing extensions, those leases will be subject to the competitive bid process in the twice a year BOEM OCS Lease Sales.

We may not be able to develop oil and natural gas reserves on an economically viable basis.

To the extent that we succeed in discovering oil and/or natural gas reserves, we cannot assure that these reserves will be capable of production levels we project or in sufficient quantities to be commercially viable. On a long-term basis, our viability depends on our ability to find, develop and commercially produce oil and gas reserves, assuming we acquire leases or drilling rights. Our future reserves, if any, will depend not only on our ability to develop then-existing properties, but also on our ability to identify and acquire additional suitable producing properties or prospects, to find markets for the oil and natural gas we develop and to effectively distribute our production into markets.

Future oil and gas exploration may involve unprofitable efforts, not only from dry wells, but from wells that are productive but do not produce sufficient net revenues to return a profit after drilling, operating and other costs. Completion of a well does not assure a profit on the investment or recovery of drilling, completion and operating costs. In addition, drilling hazards or environmental damage could greatly increase the cost of operations and various field operating conditions may adversely affect the production from successful wells. These conditions include delays in obtaining governmental approvals or consents, shut-downs of wells resulting from extreme weather conditions, problems in storage and distribution and adverse geological and mechanical conditions. While we will endeavor to effectively manage these conditions, we cannot be assured of doing so optimally, and we will not be able to eliminate them completely in any case. Therefore, these conditions could adversely impact our operations.

We may not be able to obtain drilling rigs and other equipment and geophysical service crews necessary to exploit any oil and natural gas resources we may acquire.

We may not be able to procure the necessary drilling rigs and related services and equipment or the cost of such items may be prohibitive. Our ability to comply with future license obligations or otherwise generate revenues from the production of operating oil and natural gas wells could be hampered as a result of this, and our business could suffer.

Environmental risks may adversely affect our business.

All phases of the oil and natural gas business present environmental risks and hazards and are subject to environmental regulation pursuant to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations. Environmental legislation provides for, among other things, restrictions and prohibitions on spills, releases or emissions of various substances produced in association with oil and natural gas operations, including products, byproducts, and wastes. The legislation also requires that wells and facility location be sited, operated, maintained, abandoned and reclaimed to the satisfaction of applicable regulatory authorities. Compliance with such legislation can require significant expenditures, and a breach may result in the imposition of fines and penalties, some of which may be material. Environmental legislation is evolving in a manner we expect may result in stricter standards and enforcement, larger fines and liability, prevention of the right to operate or participate in leasing, and potentially increased capital expenditures and operating costs. The discharge of oil, natural gas or other pollutants into the air, soil or water may give rise to liabilities to foreign governments and third parties and may require us to incur costs to remedy such discharge. The application of environmental laws to our business may cause us to curtail our production or increase the costs of our production, development or exploration activities.

Any insurance that we may acquire will likely be inadequate to cover liabilities we may incur.

Our involvement in the exploration for, and development of, oil and natural gas properties may result in our becoming subject to liability for pollution, blow-outs, property damage, personal injury or other hazards. Although we intend to obtain insurance in accordance with industry standards to address such risks, such insurance has limitations and so will be unlikely to cover the full extent of such liabilities. In addition, such risks may not, in all circumstances be insurable or, in certain circumstances, we may choose not to obtain insurance to protect against specific risks due to the high premiums associated with such insurance or for other reasons. The payment of such uninsured liabilities would reduce the funds available to us. If we suffer a significant event that is not fully insured or if the insurer of such event is not solvent or denies coverage, we could be required to divert funds from capital investment or other uses towards covering our liability for such events.

We are subject to cyber security risks. A cyber incident could occur and result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption or financial loss.

The oil and natural gas industry has become increasingly dependent on digital technologies to conduct certain exploration, development, production, processing and distribution activities. For example, we depend on digital technologies to interpret seismic data, conduct reservoir modeling and record financial and other data. Our industry faces various security threats, including cyber-security threats. Cyber-security attacks in particular are increasing and include, but are not limited to, malicious software, attempts to gain unauthorized access to data, and other electronic security breaches that could lead to disruptions in critical systems, unauthorized release of confidential or otherwise protected information and corruption of data. Although to date we have not experienced any material losses related to cyber-security attacks, we may suffer such losses in the future. Moreover, the various procedures and controls we use to monitor and protect against these threats and to mitigate our exposure to such threats may not be sufficient in preventing security threats from materializing. If any of these events were to materialize, they could lead to losses of intellectual property and other sensitive information essential to our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects, reputation and financial position.

Risks Related to our Common Stock 

There is a limited trading market for our shares. You may not be able to sell your shares if you need money.

Our common stock is traded on the OTC Markets (QB Marketplace Tier), an inter-dealer automated quotation system for equity securities. During the three calendar months preceding filing of this report, the average daily trading volume of our common stock was approximately 502,000 shares. As of October 2, 2019, we had approximately 190 record holders of our common stock (not including an indeterminate number of stockholders whose shares are held by brokers in “street name”). There has been limited trading activity in our stock, and when it has traded, the price has fluctuated widely. We consider our common stock to be “thinly traded” and any last reported sale prices may not be a true market-based valuation of the common stock. Stockholders may experience difficulty selling their shares if they choose to do so because of the illiquid market and limited public float for our common stock. This situation is attributable to a number of factors, including, but not limited to:  

As a result, an investor may find it difficult to dispose of, or to obtain accurate quotations of the price of our common stock. Accordingly, investors must assume they may have to bear the economic risk of an investment in our common stock for an indefinite period of time, and may lose their entire investment. There can be no assurance that a more active market for our common stock will develop, or if one should develop, there is no assurance that it will be sustained. This severely limits the liquidity of our common stock and would likely have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and on our ability to raise additional capital.

The amount of common stock registered for resale may significantly impact our share price and volatility.

The amount of our common stock to be registered for resale in the Registration Statement represents a significant percentage of our currently outstanding common stock. The 444,095,238 shares of our common stock in registered for resale in this Registration Statement equals approximately 41% of our issued and outstanding common stock.  We cannot predict what effect this may have on the price of our common stock or the volume of transactions involving our shares in the market. Sales of a substantial amount of our common stock or the perception that such sales may occur could adversely affect the liquidity of the market for our common stock or their price. Large price changes or low trading volume may preclude you from buying or selling our common stock at all, or at any particular price or during a time frame that satisfies your investment objectives.

We may issue preferred stock.

Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 50 million shares of “blank check” preferred stock with designations, rights and preferences determined from time to time by the Board of Directors. Accordingly, our Board of Directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting, or other rights, which could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of the common stock. In the event of issuance, the preferred stock could be utilized, under certain circumstances, as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company. Although we have no present intention to issue any shares of its authorized preferred stock, there can be no assurance that we will not do so in the future.

Future sales of our common stock could lower our stock price.

We will likely sell additional shares of common stock to fund working capital obligations in future periods. We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our common stock or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our common stock will have on the market price of our common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock, or the perception that such sales could occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock. Moreover, sales of our common stock by existing shareholders could also depress the price of our common stock. For instance, we have issued instruments that are convertible into or exercisable for 350 million shares of our Common Stock, which may have conversion or exercise rights that are at prices lower than the trading price of our Common Stock. In particular, the holder of the $2.1 million in Convertible Debentures we have issued may convert at any time a price equal to the lesser of (x) $0.05 per share or (y) 80% of the lowest daily VWAP of a share of our Common Stock (as reported by Bloomberg, LP) for the ten (10) consecutive trading days immediately preceding the date of determination.

Our issuance of additional shares of Common Stock, or options or warrants to purchase those shares, would dilute your proportionate ownership and voting rights.

We are authorized to issue up to 1,550,000,000 shares of capital stock, comprising 1,500,000,000 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share, and 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Preferred Stock”). We have issued and outstanding, as of June 30, 2019, 1,092,266,844 shares of Common Stock and 0 shares of Preferred Stock, plus another approximately 350 million shares may be issued by us if all of the securities we have issued that are exercisable for, or convertible into, shares of Common Stock are exercised or converted. Our board of directors (the “Board”) may generally issue shares of Common Stock, Preferred Stock or options or warrants to purchase those shares without further approval by our shareholders, based upon such factors as the Board may deem relevant at that time. See “Description of Capital Stock.” It is likely that we will be required to issue a large amount of additional securities to raise capital to further our development. It is also likely that we will issue a large amount of additional securities to directors, officers, employees and consultants as compensatory grants in connection with their services, both in the form of stand-alone grants or under our stock plans. We cannot assure you that we will not issue additional shares of Common Stock, Preferred Stock, or options or warrants to purchase those shares, under circumstances we may deem appropriate at the time.

Our common stock is subject to the “penny stock” rules of the SEC and FINRA, which makes transactions in our common stock cumbersome and may reduce the value of an investment in the stock.

The SEC has adopted Rule 15g-9 which establishes the definition of a “penny stock,” for the purposes relevant to us, as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. For any transaction involving a penny stock, unless exempt, the rules require:

In order to approve a person’s account for transactions in penny stocks, the broker or dealer must:

The broker or dealer must also deliver, prior to any transaction in a penny stock, a disclosure schedule prescribed by the SEC relating to the penny stock market, which, in highlight form sets forth:

Generally, brokers may be less willing to execute transactions in securities subject to the “penny stock” rules. This may make it more difficult for investors to dispose of common stock and cause a decline in the market value of stock.

Disclosure also has to be made about the risks of investing in penny stocks in both public offerings and in secondary trading and about the commissions payable to both the broker-dealer and the registered representative, current quotations for the securities and the rights and remedies available to an investor in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Finally, monthly statements have to be sent disclosing recent price information for the penny stock held in the account and information on the limited market in penny stocks.

In addition to the “penny stock” rules promulgated by the SEC, FINRA has adopted rules that require a broker-dealer to have reasonable grounds for believing that an investment is suitable for a customer when recommending the investment to that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit investors’ ability to buy and sell our stock and have an adverse effect on the market for our shares. 

The price of our common stock will remain volatile, which could lead to losses by investors and costly securities litigation.

The trading price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and could fluctuate in response to factors such as:

The stock market is subject to significant price and volume fluctuations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of companies’ securities, securities class action litigation has often been initiated against those companies. Litigation initiated against us, whether or not successful, could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management’s attention and resources, which could harm our business and financial condition.

We do not anticipate paying any dividends on our common stock.

Cash dividends have never been declared or paid on our common stock, and we do not anticipate such a declaration or payment for the foreseeable future. We cannot assure stockholders of a positive return on their investment when they sell their shares, nor can we assure that stockholders will not lose the entire amount of their investment in the Company.

Our certificate of incorporation could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult.

Our shareholders have approved an amendment and restatement of our certificate of incorporation to (i) eliminate the ability of stockholders to act by written consent and (ii) to classify the board of directors into three classes with staggered terms. These amendments may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control.

Any of the risk factors discussed herein could have a significant material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity. Readers of this prospectus should not consider any descriptions of these risk factors to be a complete set of all potential risks that could affect GulfSlope. These factors should be carefully considered together with the other information contained in this prospectus and materials filed by us with the SEC and incorporated herein by reference. Further, any of these risks are interrelated and could occur under similar business and economic conditions, and the occurrence of certain of them may in turn cause the emergence or exacerbate the effect of others. Such a combination could materially increase the severity of the impact of these risks on our business, results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.