ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Our business and operations are subject to many risks. The risks described below, in addition to the risks described in “Item 1. Business” and “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” of this annual report, may not be the only risks we face, as our business and operations may also be subject to risks that we do not yet know of, or that we currently believe are immaterial. You should carefully consider the following risk factors together with all of the other information included in this annual report, including the financial statements and related notes, when deciding to invest in us. You should be aware that the occurrence of any of the events described in this Risk Factors section and elsewhere in this annual report could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows and the trading price of our securities could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to our Restructuring and our Indebtedness

On April 2, 2018, we filed voluntary petitions commencing the Chapter 11 Cases under the Bankruptcy Code. The Chapter 11 Cases and the Restructuring may have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, the Chapter 11 Cases and the Restructuring may have a material adverse impact on the trading price and ultimately are expected to result in the cancelation and discharge of our securities, including our equity units. Our proposed Plan, if confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court and consummated, will govern distributions to and the recoveries of holders of our securities.

We have engaged financial and legal advisors to assist us in, among other things, analyzing various strategic alternatives to address our liquidity and capital structure, including strategic and refinancing alternatives to restructure our indebtedness in private transactions. These restructuring efforts led to the execution of the Restructuring Support Agreement on March 13, 2018. Consistent with the Restructuring Support Agreement, on April 2, 2018, we commenced the Chapter 11 Cases in the Bankruptcy Court.

Commencing the Chapter 11 Cases could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. So long as the Chapter 11 Cases continue, our senior management may be required to spend a significant amount of time and effort dealing with the reorganization instead of focusing on our business operations. Bankruptcy Court protection also may make it more difficult to retain management and the key personnel necessary to the success and growth of our business. In addition, during the period of time we are involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, our customers and suppliers might lose confidence in our ability to reorganize our business successfully and may seek to establish alternative commercial relationships.

Additionally, all of our indebtedness is senior to the existing common units in our capital structure. As a result, if the Bankruptcy Court confirms the Plan, then our common units will be canceled, resulting in a limited recovery for unitholders, and would place unitholders at a significant risk of losing all of their investment in our units. More specifically, pursuant to the Plan, existing common units would be canceled and would receive 5% of the new common stock (subject to dilution) and five-year warrants for 8% of the new common stock (subject to dilution) in the new, reorganized company, on a pro rata basis, with an exercise price set at an equity value at which the holders of the Senior Notes would receive a recovery equal to par plus accrued and unpaid interest as of the Petition Date in respect of the Senior Notes (after taking into account value dilution on account of the three percent of the new common stock to be allocated to the participants in the management incentive plan on the Effective Date pursuant to a management incentive plan).

Other significant risks include the following:

Because of the risks and uncertainties associated with Chapter 11 Cases, we cannot predict or quantify the ultimate impact that events occurring during the Chapter 11 Cases may have on our business, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations, nor can we predict the ultimate impact that events occurring during the Chapter 11 Cases may have on our corporate or capital structure.

Any Partnership de-levering transaction or change in the Partnership’s capital structure, including in connection with a plan of reorganization in the Chapter 11 Cases, may involve significant taxable cancellation-of-debt or other income, such that the Partnership’s unitholders may be required to pay taxes on their share of such income even if they do not receive any cash distributions from the Partnership.

Our unitholders, as the owners of the Partnership, are allocated the taxable income (or loss) of the Partnership for income tax purposes. Each unitholder is required to report its share of our taxable income on its federal and applicable state and local income tax returns. Accordingly, depending on their individual tax position, each unitholder may be required to pay income taxes on its share of our taxable income, even if the unitholder receives no cash distributions from the Partnership, which could happen.

The Restructuring pursuant to the Plan is intended to be structured in a manner that minimizes, to the extent possible, the negative tax impact of cancellation of debt income (“CODI”) to our unitholders. Nevertheless, such transaction and any or other transactions we may engage in to de-lever the Partnership and manage its liquidity could result in the allocation of substantial taxable income to our unitholders without a corresponding cash distribution and possibly without any cash distribution. CODI may or may not be generated. The generation of CODI will depend on whether the principal amount of the outstanding Senior Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest, exceeds the fair value of the equity received by the noteholders upon emergence from bankruptcy. Because the valuation upon emergence from bankruptcy is something determined in the future, we are currently unable to determine whether, and by how much, if any, the principal amount, plus accrued and unpaid interest, of the outstanding Senior Notes will exceed such valuation. If CODI is generated, it would be allocated to the unitholders of record as of the opening of the first NYSE trading day of the month we emerge from bankruptcy (the “CODI Allocation Date”). No CODI should be allocated to a unitholder with respect to units which are sold prior to the CODI Allocation Date. In certain cases, CODI can be realized even when existing debt is modified with no reduction in such debt’s stated principal amount. We will not make a corresponding cash distribution with respect to such allocation of CODI. Therefore, any CODI will cause a unitholder to be allocated income with respect to our units with no corresponding distribution of cash to fund the payment of the resulting tax liability to such unitholder. Such CODI, like other items of our income, gain, loss, and deduction that are allocated to our unitholders, will be taken into account in the taxable income of the holders of our units as appropriate. CODI is not itself an additional tax due but is an amount that must be reported as ordinary income by the unitholder, potentially increasing such unitholder’s tax liabilities.

Our unitholders may not have sufficient tax attributes (including allocated past and current losses from our activities) available to offset such allocated CODI. Moreover, CODI that is allocated to our unitholders will be ordinary income, and, as a result, it may not be possible for our unitholders to offset such CODI by claiming capital losses with respect to their units, even if such units are cancelled for no consideration in connection with such a restructuring. Importantly, certain exclusions that are available with respect to CODI generally do not apply at the partnership level, and any solvent unitholder that is not in a Chapter 11 proceeding will be unable to rely on such exclusions.

Each unitholder’s tax situation is different. The ultimate effect to each unitholder will depend on the unitholder’s individual tax position with respect to its units. Additionally, certain of our unitholders may have more losses available than other of our unitholders, and such losses may be available to offset some or all of the CODI that could be generated in a strategic transaction involving our debt. Accordingly, unitholders are highly encouraged to consult, and depend on, their own tax advisors in making such evaluation.

Additionally, the Partnership expects to emerge from the Chapter 11 Cases as a corporation, including for US federal income tax purposes.

During the existence of an event of default and the Chapter 11 Cases, we have no borrowing capacity under our credit agreement. Unless we are able to successfully restructure our existing indebtedness we may not be able to continue as a going concern.

Over the periods presented in the accompanying financial statements, our growth has been funded through a combination of borrowings under our credit agreement, the sale of assets and cash flows from operating activities. We currently have limited access to additional capital. During the existence of an event of default, we have no availability under our credit agreement.

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared on a going concern basis which contemplates continuity of operations, realization of assets and liquidation of liabilities in the ordinary course of business. As a result of losses incurred, there is no assurance that the carrying amounts of assets will be realized or that liabilities will be settled for the amounts recorded. Unless we are able to successfully restructure our existing indebtedness under the Chapter 11 Cases we may not be able to continue as a going concern. There can be no assurance that the Plan as outlined in the Restructuring Support Agreement (or any other plan of reorganization) will be confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court and consummated.

Delays in our Chapter 11 Cases may increase the risks of our being unable to reorganize our business and emerge from bankruptcy and increase our costs associated with the bankruptcy process.

Our Restructuring Support Agreement contemplates the confirmation of the Plan through an orderly prepackaged plan of reorganization, but there can be no assurance that we will be able to confirm and consummate the Plan. In addition to obtaining the required votes of stakeholders (which requirement we believe we satisfied before commencing the Chapter 11 Cases), the requirements for the Bankruptcy Court to confirm a plan of reorganization include, among other judicial findings, that:

We may not be able to confirm the Plan promptly, if at all. In such event, a prolonged Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding could adversely affect our relationships with customers, suppliers and employees, among other parties, which in turn could adversely affect our business, competitive position, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations and our ability to continue as a going concern. A weakening of our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations could adversely affect our ability to implement our proposed Plan (or any other plan of reorganization). If no plan is confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court, we may be forced to liquidate our assets.

In addition, the confirmation and effectiveness of the Plan is subject to certain conditions and requirements in addition to those described above that may not be satisfied.

We believe it is likely that our common units will substantially decrease in value in our Chapter 11 Cases.

We have a significant amount of indebtedness that is senior to our common units in our capital structure. We believe that the existing common units will substantially decrease in value during and after emergence from the Chapter 11 Cases. Accordingly, any trading in our common units during the pendency of our Chapter 11 Cases is highly speculative and poses substantial risks to purchasers of our common units.

Pursuant to the Plan, existing common units will be canceled and will receive 5% of the new common stock (subject to dilution) and five-year warrants for 8% of the new common stock (subject to dilution) in the new, reorganized company, on a pro rata basis, with an exercise price set at an equity value at which the holders of the Senior Notes would receive a recovery equal to par plus accrued and unpaid interest as of the Petition Date in respect of the Senior Notes (after taking into account value dilution on account of the three percent of the new common stock to be allocated to the participants in the management incentive plan on the Effective Date pursuant to a management incentive plan).

The Restructuring Support Agreement is subject to significant conditions and milestones that may be difficult for us to satisfy.

There are certain material conditions we must satisfy under the Restructuring Support Agreement, including the timely satisfaction of milestones in the Chapter 11 Cases, including for confirmation and consummation of the Plan. Our ability to timely complete such milestones is subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control.

We may not be able to obtain confirmation of the Plan.

There can be no assurance that the Plan as outlined in the Restructuring Support Agreement (or any other plan of reorganization) will be confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court. As a result, investors should exercise caution with respect to existing and future investments in our securities. The success of any reorganization will depend on approval by the Bankruptcy Court, and there can be no guarantee of success with respect to the Plan or any other plan of reorganization. For instance, we might receive objections from stakeholders to confirmation of the Plan or other relief we seek in the Chapter 11 Cases. We cannot predict the impact of any such objections. Any objection may cause us to devote significant resources in response which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If the Plan is not confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court, it is unclear whether we would be able to reorganize our business and what, if any, distributions holders of claims against us, including holders of our existing indebtedness, would ultimately receive with respect to their claims. The Plan provides for a recovery to our public unitholders. If the Plan is not confirmed, we believe that any other plan is likely to provide a reduced recovery (or no recovery at all) to our unitholders and will place them at significant risk of losing most or all of their investments in the Partnership. See Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included under “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.”

There can be no assurance to whether we will successfully reorganize and emerge from the Chapter 11 Cases or, if we do successfully reorganize, as to when we would emerge from the Chapter 11 Cases. If we are unable to successfully reorganize, we may not be able to continue our operations.

If the Restructuring Support Agreement is terminated, our ability to confirm and consummate the Plan could be materially and adversely affected.

The Restructuring Support Agreement contains a number of termination events, upon the occurrence of which certain parties to the Restructuring Support Agreement may terminate the agreement. If the Restructuring Support Agreement is terminated, each of the parties thereto will be released from their obligations in accordance with the terms of the Restructuring Support Agreement. Such termination may result in the loss of support for the Plan by the parties to the Restructuring Support Agreement, which could adversely affect our ability to confirm and consummate the Plan. If the Plan is not consummated, there can be no assurance that any new Chapter 11 plan of reorganization would be as favorable to holders of claims and units as the current Plan.

Even if a Chapter 11 plan of reorganization is consummated, we may not be able to achieve our stated goals and there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.

Even if the Plan or any other Chapter 11 plan of reorganization is consummated, we may continue to face a number of risks, such as further deterioration in commodity prices or other changes in economic conditions, changes in our industry, changes in demand for our oil and gas and increasing expenses. Some of these risks become more acute when a case under the Bankruptcy Code continues for a protracted period without indication of how or when the case may be completed. As a result of these risks and others, we cannot guarantee that any Chapter 11 plan of reorganization will achieve our stated goals.

In addition, at the outset of the Chapter 11 Cases, the Bankruptcy Code gives the Debtors the exclusive right to propose a plan of reorganization and prohibits creditors, equity security holders and others from proposing a plan. Accordingly, we currently have the exclusive right to propose a plan of reorganization. If that right is terminated, however, or the exclusivity period expires, there could be a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve confirmation of a plan of reorganization in order to achieve our stated goals.

Furthermore, even if our debts are reduced or discharged through a plan of reorganization, we may need to raise additional funds through public or private debt or equity financing or other various means to fund our business after the completion of the Chapter 11 Cases. Our access to additional financing may be limited, if it is available at all. Therefore, adequate funds may not be available when needed or may not be available on favorable terms, if they are available at all.

As a result of the entry into the Chapter 11 Cases, even with the creditor support for the restructuring under the Restructuring Support Agreement, there is substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern. As a result, we cannot give any assurance of our ability to continue as a going concern, even if a plan of reorganization is confirmed.

Our common units will be delisted from trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market, and no longer been listed on a national securities exchange effective following the commencement of the Chapter 11 Cases, and will be quoted only in the over-the-counter market, which could negatively affect the price and liquidity of our common units.

In connection with filing the Chapter 11 Cases, we expect to receive a notice from the NASDAQ stating that our units will be delisted from the NASDAQ Capital Market. The delisting decision will be reached under the NASDAQ Listing Rules 5101, 5110(b), and IM-5101-1 following our announcement that the Debtors filed the Chapter 11 Cases. Trading of our common units will be suspended by the NASDAQ, and a Form 25-NSE will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will remove our securities from listing and registration on the NASDAQ Capital Market.

Following the expected delisting from the NASDAQ Capital Market, our units will commence trading on the OTC Pink Marketplace under the symbol “EVEPQ”. We can provide no assurance that its units will commence or continue to trade on this market, whether broker-dealers will continue to provide public quotes of the units on this market, whether the trading volume of the units will be sufficient to provide for an efficient trading market or whether quotes for the units will continue on this market in the future.

The OTC Pink is a significantly more limited market than the NASDAQ Capital Market, and the quotation of our common units on the OTC Pink Marketplace may result in a less liquid market available for existing and potential shareholders to trade our common units. This could further depress the trading price of our common units and could also have a long-term adverse effect on our ability to raise capital. There can be no assurance that any public market for our common units will exist in the future or that we will be able to relist our common units on a national securities exchange. In connection with the delisting of our common units, there may also be other negative implications, including the potential loss of confidence in us by suppliers, customers and employees and the loss of institutional investor interest in our common units

In certain instances, a Chapter 11 case may be converted to a case under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Upon a showing of cause, the Bankruptcy Court may convert our Chapter 11 Cases to a case under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. In such event, a Chapter 7 trustee would be appointed or elected to liquidate our assets for distribution in accordance with the priorities established by the Bankruptcy Code. We believe that liquidation under chapter 7 would result in significantly smaller distributions being made to our creditors than those provided for in our Plan because of (i) the likelihood that the assets would have to be sold or otherwise disposed of in a distressed fashion over a short period of time rather than in a controlled manner and as a going concern, (ii) additional administrative expenses involved in the appointment of a Chapter 7 trustee, and (iii) additional expenses and claims, some of which would be entitled to priority, that would be generated during the liquidation and from the rejection of leases and other executory contracts in connection with a cessation of operations.

As a result of the Chapter 11 Cases, our historical financial information may not be indicative of our future performance, which may be volatile.

During the Chapter 11 Cases, we expect our financial results to continue to be volatile as restructuring activities and expenses, contract terminations and rejections, and claims assessments significantly impact our consolidated financial statements. As a result, our historical financial performance is likely not indicative of our financial performance after the date of the filing of the Chapter 11 Cases. In addition, if we emerge from Chapter 11, the amounts reported in subsequent consolidated financial statements may materially change relative to historical consolidated financial statements, including as a result of revisions to our operating plans pursuant to the Plan. We also may be required to adopt fresh start accounting, in which case our assets and liabilities will be recorded at fair value as of the fresh start reporting date, which may differ materially from the recorded values of assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets. Our financial results after the application of fresh start accounting also may be different from historical trends.

We may be subject to claims that will not be discharged in the Chapter 11 Cases, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The Bankruptcy Court provides that the confirmation of a plan of reorganization discharges a debtor from substantially all debts arising prior to confirmation. With few exceptions, all claims that arose prior to April 2, 2018, or before confirmation of the Plan (i) would be subject to compromise and/or treatment under the Plan and/or (ii) would be discharged in accordance with the Bankruptcy Code and the terms of the Plan. Any claims not ultimately discharged pursuant to the Plan could be asserted against the reorganized entities and may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations on a post-reorganization basis.

We have significant exposure to fluctuations in commodity prices since none of our estimated future production is covered by commodity derivative contracts and we may not be able to enter into commodity derivative contracts covering our estimated future production on favorable terms or at all.

During the Chapter 11 Cases, our ability to enter into commodity derivative contracts covering estimated future production will be limited. As a result, we may not be able to enter into commodity derivative contracts covering our production in future periods on favorable terms or at all. If we cannot or choose not to enter into commodity derivative contracts in the future, we could be more affected by changes in commodity prices. Our inability to hedge the risk of low commodity prices in the future, on favorable terms or at all, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may experience employee attrition as a result of the Chapter 11 Cases.

As a result of the Chapter 11 Cases, we may experience employee attrition, and our employees may face considerable distraction and uncertainty. A loss of key personnel or material erosion of employee morale could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Our ability to engage, motivate and retain key employees or take other measures intended to motivate and incentivize key employees to remain with us through the pendency of the Chapter 11 Cases is limited by restrictions on implementation of incentive programs under the Bankruptcy Code. The loss of services of members of our senior management team could impair our ability to execute our strategy and implement operational initiatives, which would be likely to have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Business

The board of directors of our general partner has suspended quarterly cash distributions on our common units and, in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Plan in the Chapter 11 Cases, we will convert into an entity that will not seek to pay a quarterly cash distribution or any other amount to equity holders.

Since 2016, we have suspended cash distributions to the holders of our common units in order to conserve cash and improve our liquidity. In connection with the transactions contemplated by the Plan in the Chapter 11 Cases, the Partnership will convert into a corporation or other entity with a primary business objective other than generating stable cash flows that will allow for quarterly cash distributions to equity holders.

If we were to resume quarterly cash distributions, the cash available to service our indebtedness or otherwise operate our business may be limited and we may be required to incur additional debt to enable us to pay such quarterly distributions.

If we were to resume quarterly cash distributions, we may not accumulate significant amounts of cash. These distributions could significantly reduce the cash available to us in subsequent periods to make payments on our indebtedness or otherwise operate our business. For more information, see below “—- Covenants in our credit agreement may restrict our ability to resume and sustain distributions.”

Covenants in our credit agreement may restrict our ability to resume and sustain distributions.

The terms of our credit agreement may restrict our ability to pay distributions if we do not satisfy the financial and other covenants in the credit facility. Prior to reinstating distributions, we will ensure that we are, and will continue to be, in compliance with the covenants contained in our credit agreement. As of April 2, 2018, the Partnership was in default under certain of its debt instruments. The Partnership’s filing of the Chapter 11 Cases accelerated the Partnership’s obligations under its credit facility and the Senior Notes. Additionally, events of default, including cross-defaults, are present, including the receipt of a going concern explanatory paragraph from the Partnership’s independent registered public accounting firm on the Partnership’s consolidated financial statements, subject to a 30 day grace period. As a result, our credit facility could become due and payable because of this event of default. This has a material, adverse effect on our business, including our ability to resume and sustain distributions.

Oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices are highly volatile and depressed prices can significantly and adversely affect our cash flows from operations and our ability to service our debt obligations.

Our revenue, profitability and cash flow depend upon the prices for oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Prices for these commodities have been depressed when compared with historical prices prior to the second half of 2014. The prices we receive for our production are volatile and a drop in prices can significantly affect our financial results and impede our growth, including our ability to maintain or increase our borrowing capacity, to repay current or future indebtedness and to obtain additional capital on attractive terms. Changes in prices have a significant impact on the value of our reserves and on our cash flows. Prices may fluctuate widely in response to relatively minor changes in supply and demand, market uncertainty and a variety of additional factors that are beyond our control, such as:

Low prices will decrease our revenues, but may also reduce the amount of oil, natural gas or natural gas liquids that we can economically produce. This may result in our having to make substantial downward adjustments to our estimated proved reserves. If this occurs, or if our estimates of development costs increase, production data factors change or drilling results deteriorate, accounting rules may require us to write down, as a non–cash charge to earnings, the carrying value of our oil and natural gas properties for impairments. We are required to perform impairment tests on our assets whenever events or changes in circumstances lead to a reduction of the estimated useful life or estimated future cash flows that would indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable or whenever management’s plans change with respect to those assets. We may incur impairment charges in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations in the period taken and our ability to borrow funds under our credit facility, which may adversely affect our ability to service our debt obligations.

Low commodity prices or further declines would have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our financial position, results of operations, access to capital and the quantities of oil and natural gas that may be economically produced would be negatively impacted if oil and natural gas prices decrease further or remain depressed for an extended period of time. The ways in which such price decreases could have a material negative effect include:

The terms of our indebtedness include restrictions and financial covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities.

The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in any future financing agreements may restrict our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to engage, expand or pursue our business activities or to pay distributions to our unitholders. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — Liquidity and Capital Resources.” Our future ability to comply with these restrictions and covenants is uncertain and will be affected by the levels of cash flow from our operations and other events or circumstances beyond our control. If market or other economic conditions deteriorate, our ability to comply with these covenants may be impaired. If we violate any provisions of such financing agreements that are not cured or waived within the appropriate time periods provided therein, a significant portion of our indebtedness may become immediately due and payable and our lenders’ commitment to make further loans to us may terminate. We might not have, or be able to obtain, sufficient funds to make these accelerated payments. In addition, our obligations under our credit facility are secured by substantially all of our assets, and if we are unable to repay our indebtedness under our credit facility, the lenders could seek to foreclose on our assets.

The terms and conditions governing our indebtedness:

We expect our Exit Credit Facility to be at least as restrictive as our revolving credit facility.

Our lenders periodically redetermine the amount we may borrow under our credit facility, which may materially impact our operations.

Our credit facility allowed, and we expect our Exit Credit Facility will allow, us to borrow in an amount up to the borrowing base, which is primarily based on the estimated value of our oil and natural gas properties and our commodity derivative contracts as determined semi-annually by our lenders in their sole discretion. The borrowing base is subject to redetermination on at least a semi-annual basis primarily based on an engineering report with respect to our estimated natural gas, oil and NGL reserves, which takes into account the prevailing natural gas, oil and NGL prices at such time, as adjusted for the impact of our commodity derivative contracts.  Accordingly, declining commodity prices may have an impact on the amount we can borrow, which could affect our cash flows and ability to execute on our business plans. Any reduction in the borrowing base would materially and adversely affect our business and financing activities, limit our flexibility and management’s discretion in operating our business, and increase the risk that we may default on our debt obligations.  In addition, as hedges expire, the borrowing base is subject to further reduction. Our credit facility required, and we expect our Exit Credit Facility will require, us to repay any deficiency over a certain period or pledge additional oil and gas properties to eliminate such deficiency, which we are required to do within 30 days of electing to do so. If our outstanding borrowings exceed the borrowing base and we are unable to repay the deficiency or pledge additional oil and gas properties to eliminate such deficiency, our failure to repay any of the installments due related to the borrowing base deficiency would constitute an event of default under the credit facility and as such, the lenders could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable, could freeze our accounts, or foreclose against the assets securing the obligations owed under the credit facility.

We may not be able to generate enough cash flow to meet our debt obligations and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our debt obligations that may not be successful. 

We have historically funded our operations, including our operating and capital expenditures, our debt service obligations and our acquisitions primarily through cash generated from operations, amounts available under our credit facility and equity and debt offerings. Our future cash flows are subject to a number of variables, including oil and natural gas prices, and due to the steep decline in commodity prices, our ability to obtain funding in the equity or capital markets has been, and will continue to be, constrained, and there can be no assurances that our liquidity requirements will continue to be satisfied given current commodity prices.  If our sources of liquidity are not sufficient to fund our current or future liquidity needs, including as a result of a decrease in the borrowing base under our credit facility, we may be required to take other actions, including those actions discussed below.

We expect our earnings and cash flow to vary significantly from year to year due to the cyclical nature of our industry. As a result, the amount of debt that we can service in some periods may not be appropriate for us in other periods. Moreover, and subject to certain limitations, we may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. Additionally, our future cash flow may be insufficient to meet our debt obligations and commitments. Any insufficiency could negatively impact our business. A range of economic, competitive, business and industry factors will affect our future financial performance, and, as a result, our ability to generate cash flow from operations and to pay our debt. Many of these factors, such as oil and natural gas prices, economic and financial conditions in our industry and the global economy or competitive initiatives of our competitors, are beyond our control.

If we do not generate enough cash flow from operations to satisfy our debt obligations, we may have to undertake alternative strategic actions or financing plans, such as:

We continually monitor the capital markets and our capital structure and may make changes to our capital structure from time to time, with the goal of maintaining financial flexibility, preserving or improving liquidity, strengthening our balance sheet, meeting our debt service obligations and/or achieving cost efficiency.  Our ability to restructure or refinance our indebtedness will depend on the condition of the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our indebtedness could cause us to incur high transaction costs, may be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. The terms of existing or future debt instruments, including our credit facility, may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. In addition, any failure to make payments of interest and principal on our outstanding indebtedness on a timely basis would likely result in a reduction of our credit rating, which could harm our ability to incur additional indebtedness. In the absence of sufficient cash flows and capital resources, we could face substantial liquidity problems and might be required to dispose of material assets or operations to meet our debt service and other obligations. Our debt instruments restrict our ability to dispose of assets and our use of the proceeds from such disposition. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions, and the proceeds of any such disposition may not be adequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

We can provide no assurances that any alternative strategic action or financing plan undertaken will be successful in allowing us to meet our debt obligations or will result in additional liquidity. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations or to obtain alternative financing could materially and adversely affect our ability to make payments on our indebtedness and our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Despite our current level of indebtedness, we may still be able to incur substantially more debt. This could further exacerbate the risks associated with our substantial indebtedness.

We and our subsidiaries may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future, subject to certain limitations, including under our credit facility or our Exit Credit Facility. If new debt is added to our current debt levels, the related risks that we now face could increase. Our level of indebtedness could, for instance, prevent us from engaging in transactions that might otherwise be beneficial to us or from making desirable capital expenditures. This could put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to other less leveraged competitors that have more cash flow to devote to their operations. In addition, the incurrence of additional indebtedness could make it more difficult to satisfy our existing financial obligations.

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Borrowings under our credit facility bear interest at variable rates and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates increase and we are unable to effectively hedge our interest rate risk, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even if the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash available for servicing our indebtedness would decrease. See “Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk — Interest Price Risk” included under Part II of this annual report for further information regarding interest rate sensitivity.

The board of directors of our general partner has suspended quarterly cash distributions on common units and, in connection with the transactions contemplated by the plan of reorganization in the Chapter 11 Cases, we will convert into an entity that will not seek to pay a quarterly cash distribution or any other amount to equity holders.

Under the terms of our partnership agreement, we distribute all of our available cash to our unitholders after reserves established by our general partner. The amount of cash available for distribution is reduced by our operating expenses and the amount of any cash reserves established by our general partner to provide for future operations, future capital expenditures, including acquisitions of additional oil and natural gas properties, and future debt service requirements. In 2016, the board of directors of our general partner suspended and has not reinstated distributions on common units primarily due to the current and expected commodity price environment and market conditions and their impact on our future business as well as restrictions imposed by our debt instruments, including our credit facility.

In connection with the transactions contemplated by the plan of reorganization in the Chapter 11 Cases, the Partnership will convert into a corporation or other entity with a primary business objective other than generating stable cash flows that will allow for quarterly cash distributions to equity holders.

If we were to resume quarterly cash distributions, the cash available to service our indebtedness or otherwise operate our business may be limited and we may incur additional debt to enable us to pay such quarterly distributions.

If we were to resume quarterly cash distributions, we may not accumulate significant amounts of cash. These distributions could significantly reduce the cash available to us in subsequent periods to make payments on our indebtedness or otherwise operate our business.

In addition, we may be unable to pay the quarterly cash distribution, if resumed, without borrowing under our credit facility or otherwise. If we use borrowings to pay distributions to our equity holders for an extended period of time rather than to fund capital expenditures and other activities relating to our operations, we may be unable to maintain or grow our business. Such a curtailment of our business activities, combined with our payment of principal and interest on our future indebtedness incurred to pay these distributions, will reduce our cash available for distribution on our equity and will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our inability to finance the development of our properties, future oil and natural gas price declines and other factors may result in additional write-downs of our asset carrying values.

Accounting rules require us to write down, as a non–cash charge to earnings, the carrying value of our oil and natural gas properties in the event we have impairments. We are required to perform impairment tests on our assets periodically and whenever events or changes in circumstances warrant a review of our assets. To the extent such tests indicate a reduction of the estimated useful life or estimated future cash flows of our assets, the carrying value may not be recoverable and therefore requires a write–down. During 2017, we recorded impairment charges of approximately $93.6 million. The impairment charges during 2017 included $69.9 million of proved oil and natural gas properties, of which, $49.5 million related to properties located in the Mid-Continent area and the Permian Basin, $15.3 million related to properties located in the Monroe Field, $2.2 million related to properties located in Central Texas and $2.9 million related to properties in East Texas which were sold during April 2017. We also may incur impairment charges in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations in the period incurred. Since December 31, 2017, commodity prices have continued to fluctuate. If commodity prices significantly decrease in future quarters, we could have additional impairments of our oil and natural gas properties.

As of December 31, 2017, we had no estimated proved undeveloped reserves (“PUDs”).

As of December 31, 2017, we did not report any estimated PUDs with respect to any of our properties due to uncertainty regarding our ability to continue as a going concern and the availability of capital that would be required to develop the PUDs. These undeveloped properties may not be ultimately developed by us. We previously reported estimated PUDs in our SEC filings, and, if in the future we can satisfy the reasonable certainty criteria for recording PUDs as prescribed under the SEC requirements, we would likely report estimated PUDs in future filings.

Identified potential drilling locations, which are part of our anticipated future drilling plans, are susceptible to uncertainties that could materially alter the occurrence or timing of their drilling and result in changes to the amount of our proved undeveloped reserves.

As of December 31, 2017, we had over 3,374 gross identified potential drilling locations, of which approximately 1,360 were located in the Barnett Shale and approximately 1,100 were located in the Appalachian Basin. This inventory was developed using data gathered from our appraisal efforts and development drilling, along with offset operators drilling activities. As noted above, we did not include any reserves attributable to our identified potential drilling as PUDs.

Our ability to drill and develop these locations depends on a number of uncertainties, including the availability of capital, construction of infrastructure, inclement weather, regulatory changes and approvals, oil and natural gas prices, costs, drilling results and the availability of water. Further, our identified potential drilling locations are in various stages of evaluation, ranging from locations that are ready to drill to locations that will require substantial additional interpretation. We cannot predict in advance of drilling and testing whether any particular drilling location will yield oil or natural gas in sufficient quantities to recover drilling or completion costs or to be economically viable. Because of these uncertainties, we do not know if the potential drilling locations we have identified will ever be drilled or if we will be able to produce oil or natural gas from these or any other potential drilling locations. As such, our actual drilling activities may materially differ from those presently identified, which could adversely affect our business.

The recovery of PUDs requires significant capital expenditures and successful drilling operations. We can provide no assurances that we will have the ability to finance these future expenditures, whether development will occur as scheduled or that the results of such development will be as estimated. In addition, delays in the development could force us to reclassify certain of our proved reserves as unproved reserves. Further, the decision of the operators to develop the PUDs attributable to our properties that EnerVest does not operate will be subject to the business plans and constraints of the operators of these properties, and be beyond our control.

We currently own interests in oil and natural gas properties in which partnerships managed by EnerVest also own an interest and we may acquire properties in which the EnerVest managed partnerships own an interest in the future. If the EnerVest partnerships elect to sell their interest in these properties, we would own a minority interest in the properties, and EnerVest may lose the ability to operate the properties.

We own interests in oil and natural gas properties in which partnerships managed by EnerVest also own interests, and we expect to make acquisitions of properties jointly with EnerVest partnerships in the future. These properties are primarily in the Barnett Shale and San Juan Basin, and these properties represent approximately 56% of our estimated net proved reserves as of December 31, 2017. The EnerVest partnerships generally have an investment strategy to typically divest properties in three to five years, while our strategy is to hold properties for the longer term. We own less than a majority working interest in the properties in which the EnerVest partnerships also own an interest. If the EnerVest partnerships were to sell their interest in these properties to an entity not affiliated with EnerVest, our working interest would not be large enough that we could control the selection of the operator and EnerVest may lose the ability to operate the properties on our behalf. Loss of operations would mean that EnerVest would no longer control decisions regarding the development and production of those properties, and any replacement operator could make decisions regarding development or production activities that make it difficult to implement our strategy.

We depend on EnerVest to provide us services necessary to operate our business. If EnerVest were unable or unwilling to provide these services, it would result in disruption in our business which could have an adverse effect on our ability to service our debt obligations.

Under an omnibus agreement, EnerVest provides services to us such as accounting, human resources, office space and other administrative services, and under an operating agreement, EnerVest operates our properties for us. If EnerVest were to become unable or unwilling to provide these services, we would need to develop these services internally or arrange for the services from another service provider. Developing the capabilities internally or by retaining another service provider could have an adverse effect on our business, and the services, when developed or retained, may not be of the same quality as provided to us by EnerVest.

Our hedging transactions may limit our gains, result in financial losses or could reduce our net income, which may adversely affect our ability to service our debt obligations and expose us to counterparty credit risk.

While we currently have no commodity price derivative hedges in place, we enter into derivative contracts from time to time to manage our exposure to fluctuations in oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices, to achieve more predictable cash flows and to reduce our exposure to fluctuations in the prices of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. These derivative contracts limit our potential gains if prices rise above the fixed prices established by the derivative contracts. These derivative contracts may also expose us to other risks of financial losses, for example, if our production is less than we anticipated at the time we entered into the derivatives contract, we might be forced to satisfy all or a portion of our hedging obligations without the benefit of the cash flows from our sale of the underlying physical commodity, resulting in a substantial diminution of our liquidity.

During periods of falling commodity prices, our derivative contracts expose us to risk of financial loss if the counterparty to the derivative contract fails to perform its obligations under the derivative contract (e.g., our counterparty fails to perform its obligation to make payments to us under the derivative contract when the market (floating) price under such derivative contract falls below the specified fixed price). To mitigate counterparty credit risk, we conduct our hedging activities with financial institutions who are lenders under our credit facility. Disruptions in the financial markets could lead to sudden changes in a counterparty’s liquidity, which could impair their ability to perform under the terms of the derivative contract. We are unable to predict sudden changes in a counterparty’s creditworthiness or ability to perform. Even if we do accurately predict sudden changes, our ability to negate the risk may be limited depending upon market conditions. If the creditworthiness of our counterparties deteriorates and results in their nonperformance, we could incur a significant loss.

Our ability to use hedging transactions to protect us from future price declines will be dependent upon oil and natural gas prices at the time we enter into future hedging transactions and our future levels of hedging, and as a result our future net cash flows may be more sensitive to commodity price changes. In addition, as substantial doubt exists that we will be able to continue as a going concern, finding counterparties for commodity hedges has proven difficult.

Our policy has been to hedge a significant portion of our near–term estimated production. However, our price hedging strategy and future hedging transactions will be determined at the discretion of our general partner, which is not under an obligation to hedge a specific portion of our production except that the Exit Credit Facility will require the Partnership to hedge no less than 70% of forecasted proved developed producing production not later than the closing date and for the 18-month period thereafter. The prices at which we hedge our production in the future will be dependent upon commodity prices at the time we enter into these transactions, which may be substantially higher or lower than current oil and natural gas prices. Accordingly, our price hedging strategy may not protect us from significant declines in oil and natural gas prices received for our future production. Conversely, our hedging strategy may limit our ability to realize cash flows from commodity price increases. Relative to previous years, we have less volumes hedged at lower prices. This makes our near-term oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids revenues more sensitive to changes in commodity prices.

Our limited ability to hedge our natural gas liquids production could adversely impact our net cash provided by operating activities and results of operations.

A liquid, readily available and commercially viable market for hedging natural gas liquids has not developed in the same way that exists for oil and natural gas. The current direct natural gas liquids hedging market is constrained in terms of price, volume, duration and number of counterparties, which limits our ability to hedge our natural gas liquids production effectively or at all. As a result, our net cash provided by operating activities and results of operations could be adversely impacted by fluctuations in the market prices for natural gas liquids.

The adoption of derivatives legislation and regulations related to derivative contracts could have an adverse impact on our ability to hedge risks associated with our business.

Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act establishes federal oversight and regulation of over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives and requires the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the SEC to enact further regulations affecting derivative contracts, including the derivative contracts we use to hedge our exposure to price volatility through the OTC market. Although the CFTC and the SEC have issued final regulations in certain areas, final rules in other areas and the scope of relevant definitions and/or exemptions still remain to be finalized.

In one of its rulemaking proceedings still pending under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC issued on December 5, 2016, a re-proposed rule imposing position limits for certain futures and option contracts in various commodities (including crude oil and natural gas) and for swaps that are their economic equivalents. Under the proposed rules on position limits, certain types of hedging transactions are exempt from these limits on the size of positions that may be held, provided that such hedging transactions satisfy the CFTC’s requirements for certain enumerated “bona fide hedging” transactions or positions. A final rule has not yet been issued. Similarly, on December 2, 2016, the CFTC has re-issued a proposed rule regarding the capital a swap dealer or major swap participant is required to set aside with respect to its swap business, but the CFTC has not yet issued a final rule.

The CFTC issued a final rule on margin requirements for uncleared swap transactions on January 6, 2016, which includes an exemption from any requirement to post margin to secure uncleared swap transactions entered into by commercial end-users in order to hedge commercial risks affecting their business. In addition, the CFTC has issued a final rule authorizing an exemption from the otherwise applicable mandatory obligation to clear certain types of swap transactions through a derivatives clearing organization and to trade such swaps on a regulated exchange, which exemption applies to swap transactions entered into by commercial end-users in order to hedge commercial risks affecting their business. The mandatory clearing requirement currently applies only to certain interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, but the CFTC could act to impose mandatory clearing requirements for other types of swap transactions. The Dodd-Frank Act also imposes recordkeeping and reporting obligations on counterparties to swap transactions and other regulatory compliance obligations.

All of the above regulations could increase the costs to us of entering into financial derivative transactions to hedge or mitigate our exposure to commodity price volatility and other commercial risks affecting our business. While it is not possible at this time to predict when the CFTC will issue final rules applicable to position limits or capital requirements, depending on our ability to satisfy the CFTC’s requirements for a commercial end-user using swaps to hedge or mitigate our commercial risks, these rules and regulations may require us to comply with position limits and with certain clearing and trade-execution requirements in connection with our financial derivative activities. When a final rule on capital requirements for swap dealers is issued, the Dodd-Frank Act may require our current swap dealer counterparties to post additional capital as a result of entering into uncleared financial derivatives with us, which capital requirements rule could increase the costs to us of future financial derivatives transactions. The Volcker Rule provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act may also require our current bank counterparties that engage in financial derivative transactions to spin off some of their derivatives activities to separate entities, which separate entities may not be as creditworthy as the current bank counterparties. Under such rules, other bank counterparties may cease their current business as hedge providers. These changes could reduce the liquidity of the financial derivatives markets thereby reducing the ability of entities like us, as commercial end-users, to have access to financial derivatives to hedge or mitigate our exposure to commodity price volatility.

As a result, the Dodd-Frank Act and any new regulations issued thereunder could significantly increase the cost of derivative contracts (including through requirements to post cash collateral), which could adversely affect our capital available for other commercial operations purposes, materially alter the terms of future swaps relative to the terms of our existing bilaterally negotiated financial derivative contracts and reduce the availability of derivatives to protect against commercial risks we encounter.

If we reduce our use of derivative contracts as a result of the new requirements, our results of operations may become more volatile and cash flows less predictable, which could adversely affect our ability to plan for and fund capital expenditures. Finally, the legislation was intended, in part, to reduce the volatility of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices, which some legislators attributed to speculative trading in derivatives and commodity instruments related to oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Our revenues could therefore be adversely affected if a consequence of the legislation and regulations is to lower commodity prices. Any of these consequences could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Should we fail to comply with all applicable statutes, rules, regulations and orders administered by the CFTC or FERC, we could be subject to substantial penalties and fines.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, FERC has been given greater civil penalty authority under the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”), including the ability to impose penalties of up to $1 million per day for each violation and disgorgement of profits associated with any violation.  While our operations have not been regulated by FERC as a natural gas company under the NGA, FERC has adopted regulations that may subject certain of our otherwise non-FERC jurisdictional operations to FERC annual reporting and posting requirements.  We also must comply with the anti-market manipulation rules enforced by FERC under the NGA.  Under the Commodity Exchange Act (as amended by the Dodd-Frank Act) and regulations promulgated thereunder by the CFTC, the CFTC has also adopted anti-market manipulation, fraud and market disruption rules relating to the prices of commodities, futures contracts, options on futures, and swaps.  Additional rules and legislation pertaining to those and other matters may be considered or adopted by Congress, the FERC, or the CFTC from time to time.  Failure to comply with those statutes, regulations, rules and orders could subject us to civil penalty liability.

The distressed financial conditions of customers could have an adverse impact on us in the event these customers are unable to pay us for the products or services we provide.

Some of our customers may experience, in the future, severe financial problems that have had or may have a significant impact on their creditworthiness. We cannot provide assurance that one or more of our financially distressed customers will not default on their obligations to us or that such a default or defaults will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, future results of operations or future cash flows. Furthermore, the bankruptcy of one or more of our customers, or some other similar proceeding or liquidity constraint, might make it unlikely that we would be able to collect all or a significant portion of amounts owed by the distressed entity or entities. In addition, such events might force such customers to reduce or curtail their future use of our products and services, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

We may be unable to integrate successfully the operations of our recent or future acquisitions with our operations and we may not realize all the anticipated benefits of the recent acquisitions or any future acquisition.

Integration of our recent acquisitions with our business and operations has been a complex, time consuming and costly process. Failure to successfully assimilate our past or future acquisitions could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Our acquisitions involve numerous risks, including:

Further, unexpected costs and challenges may arise whenever businesses with different operations or management are combined, and we may experience unanticipated delays in realizing the benefits of an acquisition. If we consummate any future acquisition, our capitalization and results of operation may change significantly, and you may not have the opportunity to evaluate the economic, financial and other relevant information that we will consider in evaluating future acquisitions.

Properties that we buy may not produce as projected and we may be unable to determine reserve potential, identify liabilities associated with the properties or obtain protection from sellers against such liabilities, which could adversely affect our liquidity and results of operations.

One of our strategies is to capitalize on opportunistic acquisitions of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids reserves. Any future acquisition will require an assessment of recoverable reserves, title, future oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices, operating costs, potential environmental hazards, potential tax and ERISA liabilities, and other liabilities and similar factors. Ordinarily, our review efforts are focused on the higher valued properties and are inherently incomplete because it generally is not feasible to review in depth every individual property involved in each acquisition. Even a detailed review of records and properties may not necessarily reveal existing or potential problems, nor will it permit a buyer to become sufficiently familiar with the properties to assess fully their deficiencies and potential. Inspections may not always be performed on every well, and potential problems, such as ground water contamination and other environmental conditions and deficiencies in the mechanical integrity of equipment are not necessarily observable even when an inspection is undertaken. Any unidentified problems could result in material liabilities and costs that negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations and our ability to service our debt obligations.

Additional potential risks related to acquisitions include, among other things:

If we consummate any future acquisitions, our capitalization and results of operations may change significantly.

Unless we replace the reserves we produce, our revenues and production will decline, which would adversely affect our cash flows from operations and our ability to service our debt obligations.

Producing reservoirs are characterized by declining production rates that vary depending upon reservoir characteristics and other factors. Our decline rate may change when we drill additional wells, make acquisitions or under other circumstances. Our future cash flows and income and our ability to resume, maintain and increase distributions to unitholders are highly dependent on our success in efficiently developing and exploiting our current reserves and economically finding or acquiring additional recoverable reserves. We may not be able to develop, find or acquire additional reserves to replace our current and future production at acceptable costs, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Factors that may hinder our ability to acquire additional reserves include competition, access to capital, prevailing oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices and the number and attractiveness of properties for sale.

Our estimated reserve quantities and future production rates are based on many assumptions that may prove to be inaccurate. Any material inaccuracies in these reserve estimates or the underlying assumptions will materially affect the quantities and present value of our reserves.

Numerous uncertainties are inherent in estimating quantities of our reserves. Our estimates of our net proved reserve quantities are based upon reports from Cawley Gillespie and Wright, independent petroleum engineering firms used by us. The process of estimating oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids reserves is complex, requiring significant decisions and assumptions in the evaluation of available geological, engineering and economic data for each reservoir, and these reports rely upon various assumptions, including assumptions regarding future oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids prices, production levels, and operating and development costs. As a result, estimated quantities of proved reserves and projections of future production rates and the timing of development expenditures may prove to be inaccurate. Over time, we may make material changes to reserve estimates taking into account the results of actual drilling and production. Any significant variance in our assumptions and actual results could greatly affect our estimates of reserves, the economically recoverable quantities of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids attributable to any particular group of properties, the classifications of reserves based on risk of recovery, and estimates of the future net cash flows. In addition, our wells are characterized by low production rates per well. As a result, changes in future production costs assumptions could have a significant effect on our proved reserve quantities.

The standardized measure of discounted future net cash flows of our estimated net proved reserves is not necessarily the same as the current market value of our estimated net proved reserves. We base the discounted future net cash flows from our estimated net proved reserves on average prices for the 12 months preceding the date of the estimate. Actual prices received for production and actual costs of such production will be different than these assumptions, perhaps materially.

The timing of both our production and our incurrence of expenses in connection with the development and production of our properties will affect the timing of actual future net cash flows from proved reserves, and thus their actual present value. In addition, the 10% discount factor we use when calculating discounted future net cash flows may not be the most appropriate discount factor based on interest rates in effect from time to time and risks associated with us or the oil and natural gas industry in general. Any material inaccuracy in our reserve estimates or underlying assumptions will materially affect the quantities and present value of our reserves which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our future acquisition and development operations will require substantial capital expenditures. We may be unable to obtain needed capital or financing on satisfactory terms, which could lead to a decline in our production and reserves.

The oil and natural gas industry is capital intensive. We make and expect to continue to make substantial capital expenditures in our business for the development, production and acquisition of reserves. As part of our exploration and development operations, we have expanded, and expect to further expand, the application of horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracture stimulation techniques. The utilization of these techniques requires substantially greater capital expenditures as compared to the drilling of a vertical well, sometimes more than three times the cost. The incremental capital expenditures are the result of greater measured depths and additional hydraulic fracture stages in horizontal wellbores.

We intend to finance our future capital expenditures with cash flows from operations, borrowings under our Exit Credit Facility, as amended and restated upon approval of the Plan in the Chapter 11 Cases and the issuance of debt and equity securities. The incurrence of debt will require that a portion of our cash flows from operations be used for the payment of interest and principal on our debt, thereby reducing our ability to use cash flows to fund working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions. Our cash flows from operations and access to capital are subject to a number of variables, including:

 If our revenues or the borrowing base under our credit facility decrease as a result of lower commodity prices, operating difficulties, declines in reserves or for any other reason, we may have limited ability to obtain the capital necessary to sustain our operations at current levels. Our credit facility may restrict our ability to obtain new financing. If additional capital is needed, we may not be able to obtain debt or equity financing on terms favorable to us, or at all. If cash generated by operations or available under our credit facility is not sufficient to meet our capital requirements, the failure to obtain additional financing could result in a curtailment of our operations relating to development of our prospects, which in turn could lead to a possible decline in our reserves and production, and could adversely affect our business, results of operation, financial conditions and ability to make distributions to our unitholders. In addition, we may lose opportunities to acquire oil and natural gas properties and businesses.

We rely on development drilling to assist in maintaining our levels of production. If our development drilling is unsuccessful, our cash available for servicing our debt obligations and financial condition will be adversely affected.

Part of our business strategy has focused on maintaining production levels by drilling development wells. Although we were successful in development drilling in the past, we cannot assure you that we will continue to maintain production levels through development drilling, particularly in the current commodity price environment. Our drilling involves numerous risks, including the risk that we will not encounter commercially productive oil or natural gas reservoirs. We must incur significant expenditures to drill and complete wells. Additionally, seismic technology does not allow us to know conclusively, prior to drilling a well, that oil or natural gas is present or economically producible. The costs of drilling and completing wells are often uncertain, and it is possible that we will make substantial expenditures on development drilling and not discover reserves in commercially viable quantities. These expenditures will reduce cash available for servicing our debt obligations.

Our drilling operations may be curtailed, delayed or cancelled as a result of a variety of factors, including:

Our business strategy involves the use of the latest available horizontal drilling, completion and production technology, which involve risks and uncertainties in their application.

Our operations involve the use of the latest horizontal drilling, completion and production technologies, as developed by us and our service providers, in an effort to improve efficiencies in recovery of hydrocarbons. Use of these new technologies may not prove successful and could result in significant cost overruns or delays or reduction in production, and in extreme cases, the abandonment of a well. The difficulties we face drilling horizontal wells include:

Difficulties that we face while completing our wells include the following:

In addition, certain of the new techniques we are adopting may cause irregularities or interruptions in production due to offset wells being shut in and the time required to drill and complete multiple wells before any such wells begin producing. Furthermore, the application of technology developed in drilling, completing and producing in one productive formation may not be successful in other prospective formations with little or no horizontal drilling history. If our use of the latest technologies does not prove successful, our drilling and production results may be less than anticipated or we may experience cost overruns, delays in obtaining production or abandonment of a well. As a result, the return on our investment will be adversely affected, we could incur material write-downs of unevaluated properties or undeveloped reserves and the value of our undeveloped acreage and reserves could decline in the future.

We could experience periods of higher costs if oil and natural gas prices rise or as drilling activity otherwise increases in our area of operations. Higher costs could reduce our profitability, cash flow and ability to pursue our drilling program as planned .

Historically, our capital and operating costs typically rise during periods of sustained increasing oil, natural gas and NGL prices. These cost increases result from a variety of factors beyond our control as drilling activity increases, such as increases in the cost of electricity, tubular goods, water, sand and other disposable materials used in fracture stimulation and other raw materials that we and our vendors rely upon; and the cost of services and labor especially those required in horizontal drilling and completion. Since late 2014, oil and natural gas prices declined substantially resulting in decreased levels of drilling activity in the US oil and natural gas industry, including in our area of operations. This led to significantly lower costs of some drilling and completion equipment, services, materials and supplies. As commodity prices rise or stabilize or drilling activity otherwise increases in our area of operations, these lower cost levels may not be sustainable over long periods. As a result, such costs may rise thereby negatively impacting our profitability, cash flow and causing us to possibly reconfigure or reduce our drilling program.

We may be unable to compete effectively with larger companies, which may adversely affect our ability to generate sufficient revenue and our ability to service our debt obligations.

The oil and natural gas industry is intensely competitive, and we compete with other companies that have greater resources than us. Our ability to acquire additional properties and to discover reserves in the future will be dependent upon our ability to evaluate and select suitable properties and to consummate transactions in a highly competitive environment. Many of our larger competitors not only drill for and produce oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, but also carry on refining operations and market petroleum and other products on a regional, national or worldwide basis. These companies may be able to pay more for oil and natural gas properties and evaluate, bid for and purchase a greater number of properties than our financial or human resources permit. In addition, these companies may have a greater ability to continue drilling activities during periods of low prices, to contract for drilling equipment, to secure trained personnel, and to absorb the burden of present and future federal, state, local and other laws and regulations. The oil and natural gas industry has periodically experienced shortages of drilling rigs, equipment, pipe and personnel, which has delayed development drilling and other exploitation activities and has caused significant price increases. Competition has been strong in hiring experienced personnel, particularly in the accounting and financial reporting, tax and land departments. In addition, competition is strong for attractive oil and natural gas producing properties, oil and natural gas companies, and undeveloped leases and drilling rights. We may be often outbid by competitors in our attempts to acquire properties or companies. Our inability to compete effectively with larger companies could have a material adverse impact on our business activities, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to operational risks that will not be fully insured, which, if they were to occur, could adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations and, as a result, our ability to service our debt obligations.

Our business activities are subject to operational risks, including:

In addition, a portion of our natural gas production is processed to extract natural gas liquids at processing plants that are owned by others. If these plants were to cease operations for any reason, we would need to arrange for alternative transportation and processing facilities. These alternative facilities may not be available, which could cause us to shut–in our natural gas production, or the alternative facilities could be more expensive than the facilities we currently use.

Any of these events could adversely affect our ability to conduct operations or cause substantial losses, including personal injury or loss of life, damage to or destruction of property, natural resources and equipment, pollution or other environmental contamination, loss of wells, regulatory penalties, suspension of operations, and attorneys’ fees and other expenses incurred in the prosecution or defense of litigation.

As is customary in the industry, we maintain insurance against some but not all of these risks. Additionally, we may elect not to obtain insurance if we believe that the cost of available insurance is excessive relative to the perceived risks presented. Losses could therefore occur for uninsurable or uninsured risks or in amounts in excess of existing insurance coverage. The occurrence of an event that is not fully covered by insurance could have a material adverse impact on our business activities, financial condition, results of operations and ability to pay distributions to our unitholders and service our debt obligations.

Our business depends on gathering and compression facilities owned by third parties and transportation facilities owned by third-party transporters and we rely on third parties to gather and deliver our oil, natural gas and NGLs to certain designated interconnects with third-party transporters. Any limitation in the availability of those facilities or delay in providing interconnections to newly drilled wells would interfere with our ability to market the oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids we produce and could reduce our revenues.

The marketability of our oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids production depends in part on the availability, proximity and capacity of pipeline systems owned by third parties in the respective operating areas. The amount of oil and natural gas that can be produced and sold is subject to curtailment in certain circumstances, such as pipeline interruptions due to scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, excessive pressure, physical damage to the gathering, compression or transportation system, or lack of contracted capacity on such systems. The curtailments arising from these and similar circumstances may last from a few days to several months. In many cases, we are provided only with limited, if any, notice as to when these circumstances will arise and their duration. In addition, some of our wells are drilled in locations that are not serviced by gathering and transportation pipelines, or the gathering and transportation pipelines in the area may not have sufficient capacity to transport the additional production. As a result, we may not be able to sell the oil and natural gas production from these wells until the necessary gathering and transportation systems are constructed. Any significant curtailment in gathering system or pipeline capacity, or significant delay in the construction of necessary gathering, compression and transportation facilities, could reduce our revenues.

The third parties on whom we rely for gathering, compression and transportation services are subject to complex federal, state and other laws and regulations that could adversely affect the cost, manner or feasibility of doing business.

The operations of the third parties on whom we rely for gathering, compression and transportation services are subject to complex and stringent laws and regulations that require obtaining and maintaining numerous permits, approvals and certifications from various federal, state and local government authorities. These third parties may incur substantial costs in order to comply with existing laws and regulations. If existing laws and regulations governing such third-party services are revised or reinterpreted, or if new laws and regulations become applicable to their operations, these changes may affect the costs that we pay for such services. Similarly, a failure to comply with such laws and regulations by the third parties on whom we rely could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected if we incur costs and liabilities due to a failure to comply with environmental regulations or a release of hazardous substances into the environment.

 We may incur significant costs and liabilities as a result of environmental requirements applicable to the operation of our wells, gathering systems and other facilities. These costs and liabilities could arise under a wide range of federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including, for example:

Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may trigger a variety of administrative, civil and criminal enforcement measures, including the assessment of monetary penalties, the imposition of remedial requirements, and the issuance of orders enjoining future operations. Certain environmental statutes, including the RCRA, CERCLA, OPA and analogous state laws and regulations, impose strict joint and several liability for costs required to clean up and restore sites where hazardous substances or other waste products have been disposed of or otherwise released. More stringent laws and regulations, including any related to climate change and greenhouse gases, may be adopted in the future. Moreover, it is not uncommon for neighboring landowners and other third parties to file claims for personal injury and property damage allegedly caused by the release of hazardous substances or other waste products into the environment.

We are subject to complex federal, state, local and other laws and regulations that could adversely affect the cost, manner or feasibility of conducting our operations.

Our operations are subject to complex and stringent laws and regulations, which are continuously being reviewed for amendment and/or expansion. In order to conduct our operations in compliance with these laws and regulations, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits, approvals and certificates from various federal, state and local governmental authorities. Failure or delay in obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals or drilling permits could have a material adverse effect on our ability to develop our properties, and receipt of drilling permits with onerous conditions could increase our compliance costs. In addition, regulations regarding resource conservation practices and the protection of correlative rights affect our operations by limiting the quantity of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids we may produce and sell.

We are subject to, and may incur liabilities under, federal, state and local laws and regulations as interpreted and enforced by governmental authorities possessing jurisdiction over various aspects of the exploration and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

For example, several states have enacted Surface Damage Acts (“SDAs”) that are designed to compensate surface owners/users for damages caused by mineral owners. Most SDAs contain entry notification and negotiation requirements to facilitate contact between operators and surface owners/users. Most also contain binding requirements for payments by the operator to surface owners/users in connection with exploration and operating activities. Costs and delays associated with SDAs could impair operational effectiveness and increase development costs. In addition, many states, including Texas, impose a production, ad valorem or severance tax with respect to the production and sale of oil and gas within their jurisdiction.

Other activities subject to regulation are:

While the cost of compliance with these laws has not been material to our operations in the past, the possibility exists that new laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be more stringent and significantly increase our compliance costs. If we are not able to recover the resulting costs through insurance or increased revenues, our ability to service our debt obligations could be adversely affected.

Climate change legislation or regulations restricting emissions of GHGs could result in increased operating costs and reduced demand for the oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids we produce.

The EPA requires the reporting of GHG emissions from specified large GHG emission sources, including onshore and offshore oil and natural gas production facilities and onshore oil and natural gas processing, transmission, storage and distribution facilities, which may include facilities we operate. We began reporting emissions in 2012 for emissions occurring in 2011 and continue to report as required on an annual basis.

More stringent laws and regulations relating to climate change and GHGs may be adopted and could cause us to incur material expenses to comply.

Both houses of Congress previously considered legislation to reduce emissions of GHGs and many states have adopted or considered measures to reduce GHG emission reduction levels, often involving the planned development of GHG emission inventories and/or cap and trade programs. Most of these cap and trade programs work by requiring major sources of emissions or major producers of fuels to acquire and surrender emission allowances. The adoption and implementation of any legislation or regulatory programs imposing reporting obligations on, or limiting emissions of GHGs from, our equipment and operations could require us to incur costs to reduce emissions of GHGs associated with our operations or could adversely affect demand for the oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids that we produce.

In the absence of comprehensive federal legislation on GHG emission control, the EPA attempted to require the permitting of GHG emissions; although the Supreme Court struck down the permitting requirements, it upheld EPA’s authority to control GHG emissions when a permit is required due to emissions of other pollutants. The EPA has adopted rules to regulate methane emissions, including from new and modified oil and gas production sources and natural gas processing and transmission sources, and has announced its intention to regulate methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources, although it remains unclear the status of future rulemaking under the new administration. This rule is also the subject of pending appeals. In late 2016, BLM adopted rules governing flaring and venting of methane from existing wells and other facilities on public and tribal lands, which could require additional equipment and emissions controls as well as inspection requirements. These rules have been challenged in court and remain in litigation. Additionally, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution under the Congressional Review Act disapproving the rules; Senate action remains pending. As noted elsewhere in this report, both the EPA and BLM have proposed regulatory changes that would reduce the burdens of the above-described GHG emission regulations on new and existing sources, but it is too recent an event to know for certain the impact of these proposed rule changes.

Significant physical effects of climatic change have the potential to damage our facilities, disrupt our production activities and cause us to incur significant costs in preparing for or responding to those effects.

Climate change could have an effect on the severity of weather (including hurricanes and floods), sea levels, the arability of farmland, and water availability and quality. If such effects were to occur, our exploration and production operations have the potential to be adversely affected. Potential adverse effects could include damages to our facilities from powerful winds or rising waters in low lying areas, disruption of our production activities either because of climate related damages to our facilities in our costs of operation potentially arising from such climatic effects, less efficient or non–routine operating practices necessitated by climate effects or increased costs for insurance coverages in the aftermath of such effects. Significant physical effects of climate change could also have an indirect effect on our financing and operations by disrupting the transportation or process related services provided by midstream companies, service companies or suppliers with whom we have a business relationship. We may not be able to recover through insurance some or any of the damages, losses or costs that may result from potential physical effects of climate change.

Federal legislation and state and local legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to hydraulic fracturing could result in increased costs and additional operating restrictions or delays.

Hydraulic fracturing is an important and common practice that is used to stimulate production of hydrocarbons, particularly natural gas, from dense rock formations. The hydraulic fracturing process involves the injection of water, sand and chemicals under pressure into the formation to fracture the surrounding rock and stimulate production. We routinely use hydraulic fracturing techniques in most of our drilling and completion programs. Hydraulic fracturing is typically regulated by state oil and natural gas commissions but the EPA has asserted federal regulatory authority pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act over certain hydraulic fracturing activities involving the use of diesel. In addition, in past sessions, legislation was introduced before Congress to provide for federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act and to require disclosure of the chemicals used in the fracturing process. At the state level, some states, including Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas, where we operate, have adopted, and other states are considering adopting, requirements that could impose more stringent permitting, public disclosure or well construction requirements on hydraulic fracturing activities including such things as restrictions on drilling and completion operations, including requirements regarding casing and cementing of wells; testing of nearby water wells; restrictions on access to, and usage of, water; and restrictions on the type of chemical additives that may be used in hydraulic fracturing operations. Additionally, some states, localities and local regulatory districts have adopted or have considered adopting regulations to limit, and in some cases impose a moratorium on, hydraulic fracturing. In the event that new or more stringent federal, state, or local legal restrictions relating to the hydraulic fracturing process are adopted in areas where we operate, we could incur potentially significant added costs to comply with such requirements, experience delays or curtailment in the pursuit of exploration, development, or production activities, and perhaps even be precluded from drilling wells.

In addition, certain governmental reviews are either underway or being proposed that focus on environmental aspects of hydraulic fracturing practices. The EPA has issued final rules outlining its position on the federal jurisdictional reach over waters of the United States. This interpretation by the EPA may constitute an expansion of federal jurisdiction over waters of the United States. Litigation surrounding this rule is ongoing . Further, the EPA has published guidance on hydraulic fracturing using diesel and also published an effluent limit guideline final rule prohibiting the discharge of wastewater from onshore unconventional oil and natural gas extraction facilities to publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. This ongoing scrutiny of hydraulic fracturing, depending on the degree of pursuit and any meaningful results obtained, could result in further regulation of hydraulic fracturing under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act or other regulatory programs.

We are now subject to regulation under NSPS and NESHAPS programs, which could result in increased operating costs.

On April 17, 2012, the EPA issued final rules that subject oil and natural gas production, processing, transmission and storage operations to regulation under the NSPS and the NESHAP programs. The EPA rules include NSPS standards for completions of hydraulically fractured natural gas wells. Beginning January 1, 2015, operators must capture the natural gas and make it available for use or sale, which can be done through the use of green completions. The standards are applicable to newly fractured wells and also existing wells that are refractured. Further, the finalized regulations also establish specific new requirements, effective in 2012, for emissions from compressors, controllers, dehydrators, storage tanks, natural gas processing plants and certain other equipment. These rules may require changes to our operations, including the installation of new equipment to control emissions. We continuously evaluate the effect of new rules on our business.

Changes in interest rates could adversely impact our ability to issue additional debt.

Interest rates on future credit facilities and debt offerings could be higher than current levels, causing our financing costs to increase accordingly. As with other yield oriented securities, our unit price is impacted by the level of our cash distributions and implied distribution yield. The distribution yield is often used by investors to compare and rank related yield oriented securities for investment decision-making purposes. Therefore, changes in interest rates, either positive or negative, may affect the yield requirements of investors who invest in our units, and a rising interest rate environment could have an adverse impact on our unit price and our ability to issue additional equity to make acquisitions, incur debt or for other purposes.

We may encounter obstacles to marketing our oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, which could adversely impact our revenues.

The marketability of our production will depend in part upon the availability and capacity of natural gas gathering systems, pipelines and other transportation facilities owned by third parties. Transportation space on the gathering systems and pipelines we utilize is occasionally limited or unavailable due to repairs or improvements to facilities or due to space being utilized by other companies that have priority transportation agreements. Our access to transportation options can also be affected by US federal and state regulation of oil and natural gas production and transportation, general economic conditions and changes in supply and demand. The availability of markets is beyond our control. If market factors dramatically change, the impact on our revenues could be substantial and could adversely affect our ability to produce and market oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, the value of our units and our ability to pay distributions on our units and service our debt obligations.

We may experience a temporary decline in revenues and production if we lose one of our significant customers.

To the extent any significant customer reduces the volume of its oil or natural gas purchases from us, we could experience a temporary interruption in sales of, or a lower price for, our production and our revenues which could adversely affect our ability to service our debt obligations.

We may incur substantial debt in the future to enable us to maintain or increase our production levels and to otherwise pursue our business plan.

 Our business requires a significant amount of capital expenditures to maintain and grow production levels. Commodity prices have historically been volatile, and we cannot predict the prices we will receive in the future. If prices were to decline for an extended period of time, if the costs of our acquisition and development operations were to increase substantially, or if other events were to occur which reduced our revenues or increased our costs, we may be required to borrow significant amounts in the future to enable us to finance the expenditures necessary to replace the reserves we produce.

Oil and gas exploration and production activities are complex and involves risks that could lead to legal proceedings resulting in the incurrence of substantial liabilities.

Like many oil and gas companies, we are from time to time involved in various legal and other proceedings in the ordinary course our business, such as title, royalty or contractual disputes, regulatory compliance matters and personal injury or property damage matters, in the ordinary course of our business. Such legal proceedings are inherently uncertain and their results cannot be predicted. Regardless of the outcome, such proceedings could have an adverse impact on us because of legal costs, diversion of management and other personnel and other factors. In addition, it is possible that a resolution of one or more such proceedings could result in liability, penalties or sanctions, as well as judgments, consent decrees or orders requiring a change in our business practices, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition. Accruals for such liabilities, penalties or sanctions may be insufficient, and judgments and estimates to determine accruals or range of losses related to legal and other proceedings could change from one period to the next, and such changes could be material.

Loss of our information and computer systems could adversely affect our business.

We are heavily dependent on our information systems and computer based programs, including our well operations information, seismic data, electronic data processing and accounting data. If any of such programs or systems were to fail or create erroneous information in our hardware or software network infrastructure, possible consequences include our loss of communication links, inability to find, produce, process and sell oil and natural gas and inability to automatically process commercial transactions or engage in similar automated or computerized business activities. Any such consequence could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A cyber incident could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.

The oil and gas industry has become increasingly dependent on digital technologies to conduct day-to-day operations including certain exploration, development and production activities. For example, software programs are used to interpret seismic data, manage drilling rigs, production equipment and gathering and transportation systems, conduct reservoir modeling and reserves estimation, and for compliance reporting. The use of mobile communication devices has increased rapidly. Industrial control systems such as SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) now control large scale processes that can include multiple sites and long distances, such as power generation and transmission, communications and oil and gas pipelines.

We depend on digital technology, including information systems and related infrastructure as well as cloud applications and services, to process and record financial and operating data, communicate with our employees, vendors and service providers, analyze seismic and drilling information, estimate quantities of oil and gas reserves as well as other activities related to our business. Our vendors, service providers, purchasers of our production, and financial institutions, are also dependent on digital technology. The technologies needed to conduct oil and gas exploration and development activities and global competition for oil and gas resources make certain information the target of theft or misappropriation.

As dependence on digital technologies has increased, cyber incidents, including deliberate attacks or unintentional events, also have increased. A cyber attack could include gaining unauthorized access to digital systems for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption, or result in denial-of-service on websites. SCADA-based systems are potentially vulnerable to targeted cyber attacks due to their critical role in operations.

Our technologies, systems, networks, and those of our vendors and service providers may become the target of cyber attacks or information security breaches that could result in the unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of proprietary and other information, or other disruption of our business operations. In addition, certain cyber incidents, such as surveillance, may remain undetected for an extended period.

A cyber incident involving our information systems and related infrastructure, or that of our vendors and service providers, could disrupt our business plans and negatively impact our operations in the following ways, among others:

Our implementation of various controls and processes to monitor and mitigate security threats and to increase security for our information, facilities and infrastructure is costly and labor intensive. Moreover, there can be no assurance that such measures will be sufficient to prevent security breaches from occurring. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend significant additional resources to continue to modify or enhance our protective measures or to investigate and remediate any information security vulnerabilities.

Risks Inherent in an Investment in Us

EnerVest controls our general partner, which has sole responsibility for conducting our business and managing our operations. EnerVest, EV Investors, L.P. (“EV Investors”) and EnCap Investments, L.P. (“EnCap”), which are limited partners of our general partner, have conflicts of interest, which may permit them to favor their own interests to your detriment.

EnerVest owns and controls our general partner, and EnCap owns a 23.75% limited partnership interest in our general partner. Conflicts of interest may arise between EnerVest, EnCap and their respective affiliates, including our general partner, on the one hand, and us, our unitholders and the holders of our debt obligations, on the other hand. In resolving these conflicts of interest, our general partner may favor its own interests and the interests of its owners over the interests of our unitholders and the holders of our debt obligations. These conflicts include, among others, the following situations:

Many of the directors and officers who have responsibility for our management have significant duties with, and will spend significant time serving, entities that compete with us in seeking out acquisitions and business opportunities and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in allocating time or pursuing business opportunities.

In order to maintain and increase our levels of production, we will need to acquire oil and natural gas properties. Several of the officers and directors of EV Management, the general partner of our general partner, who have responsibilities for managing our operations and activities hold similar positions with other entities that are in the business of identifying and acquiring oil and natural gas properties. For example, Mr. John B. Walker is Executive Chairman of EV Management and Chief Executive Officer of EnerVest, which is in the business of acquiring oil and natural gas properties and managing the EnerVest partnerships that are in that business. We cannot assure you that these conflicts will be resolved in our favor. Mr. Gary R. Petersen, a director of EV Management, is also a senior managing director of EnCap, which is in the business of investing in oil and natural gas companies with independent management which in turn is in the business of acquiring oil and natural gas properties. Mr. Petersen is also a director of several oil and natural gas producing entities that are in the business of acquiring oil and natural gas properties. The existing positions of these directors and officers may give rise to fiduciary obligations that are in conflict with fiduciary obligations owed to us. The EV Management officers and directors may become aware of business opportunities that may be appropriate for presentation to us as well as the other entities with which they are or may be affiliated. Due to these existing and potential future affiliations with these and other entities, they may have fiduciary obligations to present potential business opportunities to those entities prior to presenting them to us, which could cause additional conflicts of interest. They may also decide that the opportunities are more appropriate for other entities which they serve and elect not to present them to us.

Neither EnerVest nor EnCap is limited in its ability to compete with us for acquisition or drilling opportunities. This could cause conflicts of interest and limit our ability to acquire additional assets or businesses which in turn could adversely affect our ability to replace reserves, results of operations and cash available for servicing our debt obligations.

Neither our partnership agreement nor the omnibus agreement between EnerVest and us prohibits EnerVest, EnCap and their affiliates from owning assets or engaging in businesses that compete directly or indirectly with us. For instance, EnerVest, EnCap and their respective affiliates may acquire, develop or dispose of additional oil or natural gas properties or other assets in the future, without any obligation to offer us the opportunity to purchase or develop any of those assets. Each of these entities is a large, established participant in the energy business, and each has significantly greater resources and experience than we have, which factors may make it more difficult for us to compete with these entities with respect to commercial activities as well as for acquisition candidates. As a result, competition from these entities could adversely impact our results of operations and accordingly cash available for servicing our debt obligations.

Cost reimbursements due to our general partner and its affiliates for services provided may be substantial and will reduce our cash available for servicing our debt obligations.

Pursuant to the omnibus agreement between EnerVest and us, EnerVest will receive reimbursement for the provision of various general and administrative services for our benefit. In addition, we entered into contract operating agreements with a subsidiary of EnerVest pursuant to which the subsidiary will be the contract operator of all of the wells for which we have the right to appoint an operator. Payments for these services will be substantial. In addition, under Delaware partnership law, our general partner has unlimited liability for our obligations, such as our debts and environmental liabilities, except for our contractual obligations that are expressly made without recourse to our general partner. To the extent our general partner incurs obligations on our behalf, we are obligated to reimburse or indemnify it. If we are unable or unwilling to reimburse or indemnify our general partner, our general partner may take actions to cause us to make payments of these obligations and liabilities. Any such payments could reduce the amount of cash otherwise available for distribution to our unitholders.

Our partnership agreement limits our general partner’s fiduciary duties to holders of our common units.

Although our general partner has a fiduciary duty to manage us in a manner beneficial to us and our unitholders, the directors and officers of EV Management, the general partner of our general partner, have a fiduciary duty to manage our general partner in a manner beneficial to its owners. Our partnership agreement contains provisions that reduce the standards to which our general partner and its affiliates would otherwise be held by state fiduciary duty laws. For example, our partnership agreement permits our general partner and its affiliates to make a number of decisions either in their individual capacities, as opposed to in its capacity as our general partner, or otherwise free of fiduciary duties to us and our unitholders. This entitles our general partner and its affiliates to consider only the interests and factors that they desire, and they have no duty or obligation to give any consideration to any interest of, or factors affecting, us, our affiliates or any limited partner. Examples include:

Our partnership agreement restricts the remedies available to holders of our common units for actions taken by our general partner that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty.

Our partnership agreement contains provisions restricting the remedies available to unitholders for actions taken by our general partner or its affiliates that might otherwise constitute breaches of fiduciary duty. For example, our partnership agreement:

Holders of our common units have limited voting rights and are not entitled to elect our general partner or the board of directors of its general partner.

Unlike the holders of common stock in a corporation, unitholders have only limited voting rights on matters affecting our business and, therefore, limited ability to influence management’s decisions regarding our business. Unitholders will not elect our general partner, its general partner or the members of its board of directors, and will have no right to elect our general partner, its general partner or its board of directors on an annual or other continuing basis. The board of directors of EV Management is chosen by EnerVest, the sole member of EV Management. Furthermore, if the unitholders were dissatisfied with the performance of our general partner, they will have only a limited ability to remove our general partner. As a result of these limitations, the price at which the common units will trade could be diminished because of the absence or reduction of a takeover premium in the trading price.

Control of our general partner may be transferred to a third party without unitholder consent.

Our general partner may transfer its general partner interest to a third party in a merger or in a sale of all or substantially all of its assets without the consent of the unitholders. Furthermore, our partnership agreement does not restrict the ability of the owners of our general partner or EV Management, from transferring all or a portion of their respective ownership interest in our general partner or EV Management to a third party. The new owners of our general partner or EV Management would then be in a position to replace the board of directors and officers of EV Management with its own choices and thereby influence the decisions taken by the board of directors and officers.

Your liability may not be limited if a court finds that unitholder action constitutes control of our business.

A general partner of a partnership generally has unlimited liability for the obligations of the partnership, except for those contractual obligations of the partnership that are expressly made without recourse to the general partner. Our partnership is organized under Delaware law, and we conduct business in a number of other states. The limitations on the liability of holders of limited partner interests for the obligations of a limited partnership have not been clearly established in some of the other states in which we do business. You could be liable for any and all of our obligations as if you were a general partner if:

Unitholders may have liability to repay distributions that were wrongfully distributed to them.

Under certain circumstances, unitholders may have to repay amounts wrongfully returned or distributed to them. Under Section 17–607 of the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act, we may not make a distribution to you if the distribution would cause our liabilities to exceed the fair value of our assets. Delaware law provides that for a period of three years from the date of the impermissible distribution, limited partners who received the distribution and who knew at the time of the distribution that it violated Delaware law will be liable to the limited partnership for the distribution amount. Substituted limited partners are liable for the obligations of the assignor to make contributions to the partnership that are known to the substituted limited partner at the time it became a limited partner and for unknown obligations if the liabilities could be determined from the partnership agreement. Liabilities to partners on account of their partnership interest and liabilities that are non–recourse to the partnership are not counted for purposes of determining whether a distribution is permitted.

If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, current and potential unitholders could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which would harm our business and the trading price of our units.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports, prevent fraud and operate successfully as a public company. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, our reputation and operating results would be harmed. We cannot be certain that our efforts to maintain our internal controls will be successful, that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future or that we will be able to continue to comply with our obligations under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Any failure to maintain effective internal controls, or difficulties encountered in implementing or improving our internal controls, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of our units.

Tax Risks to Common Unitholders

An IRS contest of our US federal income tax positions may adversely affect the market for our common units, and the cost of any IRS contest may be substantial.

We have not requested a ruling from the IRS with respect to our treatment as a partnership for federal income tax purposes or any other matter affecting us. It may be necessary to resort to administrative or court proceedings to sustain some or all of our counsel’s conclusions or the positions we take. A court may not agree with all of our counsel’s conclusions or positions we take. Any contest with the IRS may materially and adversely impact the market for our common units and the price at which they trade.

You may be required to pay taxes on income from us even if you do not receive any cash distributions from us.

Because our unitholders will be treated as partners to whom we will allocate taxable income which could be different in amount than the cash we distribute, you will be required to pay any federal income taxes and, in some cases, state and local income taxes on your share of our taxable income even if you receive no cash distributions from us. You may not receive cash distributions from us equal to your share of our taxable income or even equal to the tax liability that results from that income.

Tax gain or loss on disposition of common units could be more or less than expected.

If you sell your common units, you will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and your tax basis in those common units. Prior distributions to you in excess of the total net taxable income you were allocated for a common unit, which decreased your tax basis in that common unit, will, in effect, become taxable income to you if the common unit is sold at a price greater than your tax basis in that common unit, even if the price is less than your original cost. A substantial portion of the amount realized, whether or not representing gain, may be ordinary income. In addition, if you sell your units, you may incur a tax liability in excess of the amount of cash you receive from the sale.

Tax–exempt entities and foreign persons face unique tax issues from owning common units that may result in adverse tax consequences to them.

Investment in common units by tax–exempt entities, such as individual retirement accounts (known as IRAs), other retirement plans and non–US persons raises issues unique to them. For example, virtually all of our income allocated to organizations that are exempt from federal income tax, including IRAs and other retirement plans, will be unrelated business taxable income and will be taxable to them. Distributions to non–US persons will be reduced by withholding taxes at the highest applicable effective tax rate, and non–US persons will be required to file US federal tax returns and pay tax on their share of our taxable income.

We will treat each purchaser of our common units as having the same tax benefits without regard to the actual common units purchased. The IRS may challenge this treatment, which could adversely affect the value of the common units.

Because we cannot match transferors and transferees of common units and because of other reasons, we will take depreciation and amortization positions that may not conform to all aspects of existing Treasury regulations. A successful IRS challenge to those positions could adversely affect the amount of tax benefits available to you. It also could affect the timing of these tax benefits or the amount of gain from the sale of common units and could have a negative impact on the value of our common units or result in audit adjustments to your tax returns.

Unitholders may be subject to state and local taxes and tax return filing requirements in states where they do not live as a result of investing in our common units.

In addition to federal income taxes, you will likely be subject to other taxes, including Medicare, state and local taxes, unincorporated business taxes and estate, inheritance or intangible taxes that are imposed by the various jurisdictions in which we do business or own property, even if you do not live in any of those jurisdictions. You will likely be required to file state and local income tax returns and pay state and local income taxes in some or all of these jurisdictions. Further, you may be subject to penalties for failure to comply with those requirements. We own assets and do business in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Each of these states, other than Texas, currently imposes a personal income tax. As we make acquisitions or expand our business, we may own assets or do business in additional states that impose a personal income tax. It is your responsibility to file all US federal, foreign, state and local tax returns.

The tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships or an investment in our common units could be subject to potential legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations, possibly on a retroactive basis.

The present federal income tax treatment of publicly traded partnerships, including us, or an investment in our common units may be modified by legislative, judicial or administrative changes and differing interpretations at any time. Specifically, from time to time, members of Congress propose and consider substantive changes to the existing federal income tax laws that affect publicly traded partnerships. If successful, such a proposal could eliminate the qualifying income exception to the treatment of all publicly traded partnerships as corporations upon which we rely for our treatment as a partnership for US federal income tax purposes. Any modification to the US federal income tax laws may be applied retroactively and could make it more difficult or impossible for us to meet the exception for certain publicly traded partnerships to be treated as partnerships for US federal income tax purposes. We are unable to predict whether any of these changes or other proposals will ultimately be enacted. Any such changes could negatively impact the value of an investment in our common units.