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MARPS > SEC Filings for MARPS > Form 10-Q on 6-Nov-2009All Recent SEC Filings

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Form 10-Q for MARINE PETROLEUM TRUST


6-Nov-2009

Quarterly Report


Item 2. Trustee's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations
Organization
The Trust is a royalty trust that was created in 1956 under the laws of the State of Texas. U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management serves as corporate trustee (the "Trustee"). The Indenture provides that the term of Trust will expire on June 1, 2021, unless extended by the vote of the holders of a majority of the outstanding units of beneficial interest. The Trust is not permitted to engage in any business activity because it was organized for the sole purpose of providing an efficient, orderly, and practical means for the administration and liquidation of rights to payments from certain oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, pursuant to license agreements and amendments between the Trust's predecessors and Gulf Oil Corporation ("Gulf"). As a result of various transactions that have occurred since 1956, the Gulf interests now are held by Chevron Corporation ("Chevron") and its assignees. The Trust holds title to interests in properties that are situated offshore of Texas.
The Trust's wholly-owned subsidiary, MPC, holds title to interests in properties that are situated offshore of Louisiana because at the time the Trust was created, trusts could not hold these interests under Louisiana law. MPC is prohibited from engaging in a trade or business and does only those things necessary for the administration and liquidation of its properties.
Marine's rights are generally referred to as overriding royalty interests in the oil and natural gas industry. An overriding royalty interest is created by an assignment by the owner of a working interest in an oil or gas lease. The royalty rights associated with an overriding royalty interest terminate when the underlying lease terminates. All production and marketing functions are conducted by the working interest owners of the leases. Income from overriding royalties is paid to Marine either (i) on the basis of the selling price of oil, natural gas and other minerals produced, saved and sold, or (ii) at the value at the wellhead as determined by industry standards, when the selling price does not reflect the value at the wellhead.
The Trustee assumes that some units of beneficial interest are held by middlemen, as such term is broadly defined in U.S. Treasury Regulations (and includes custodians, nominees, certain joint owners, and brokers holding an interest for a customer in street name). Therefore, the Trustee considers the Trust to be a widely held fixed investment trust ("WHFIT") for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, the Trust will provide tax information in accordance with applicable U.S. Treasury Regulations governing the information reporting requirements of the Trust as a WHFIT. The representative of the Trust that will provide the required information is U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management and the contact information for the representative is as follows:
U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management P.O. Box 830650
Dallas, Texas 75283-0650
Telephone number: (800) 985-0794
Each unitholder should consult his or her own tax advisor for compliance matters.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Due to the limited purpose of the Trust as stated in the Trust's Indenture, there is no requirement for capital. The Trust's only obligation is to distribute to unitholders the distributable income actually collected. As an administrator of oil and natural gas royalty properties, the Trust collects royalties monthly, pays administration expenses and disburses all net royalties collected to its unitholders each quarter.
The Trust's Indenture (and MPC's charter and by-laws) expressly prohibits the operation of any kind of trade or business. The Trust's oil and natural gas properties are depleting assets and are not being replaced due to the prohibition against these investments. These restrictions, along with other factors, allow the Trust to be treated as a grantor trust. As a grantor trust, all income and deductions for state and U.S Federal tax purposes generally flow through to each individual unitholder. In May 2006, the State of Texas passed legislation to implement a new franchise or "margin" tax. The Trust does not believe that it is subject to the franchise tax because at least 90% of


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its income is from passive sources. Please see Marine's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009 for further information. MPC is a taxable entity and pays state and U.S. Federal taxes on its income. However, MPC's income specifically excludes 98% of oil and natural gas royalties collected by MPC, which are retained by and delivered to the Trust in respect of the Trust's net profits interest.
The Leases
Marine relies on public records for information regarding drilling operations. The public records available up to the date of this report indicate that there were three new well completions made during the three months ended September 30, 2009 on leases in which Marine has an interest. Public records also indicate that there were three wells in the process of being drilled and no permits for wells to be drilled in the future.
Marine holds an overriding royalty interest equal to three-fourths of 1% of the value at the well of any oil, natural gas, or other minerals produced and sold from 58 leases covering 209,376 gross acres located in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine's overriding royalty interest applies only to existing leases and does not apply to any new leases that Chevron may acquire. The Trust also owns a 32.6% interest in Tidelands. Tidelands has an overriding royalty interest in five leases covering 22,948 gross acres located in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of this ownership, the Trust receives periodic distributions from Tidelands.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates In accordance with SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 12:E, Financial Statements of Royalty Trusts, Marine uses the modified cash basis method of accounting. Under this accounting method, royalty income is recorded when received, and distributions to unitholders are recorded when declared by the Trustee of the Trust. Expenses of Marine (which include accounting, legal, and other professional fees, trustees' fees and out-of-pocket expenses) are recorded on an accrual basis. Marine also reports distributable income instead of net income under the modified cash basis method of accounting. Cash reserves are permitted to be established by the Trustee for certain contingencies that would not be recorded under GAAP.
Marine did not have any changes in critical accounting policies or in significant accounting estimates during the three months ended September 30, 2009. Please see Marine's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009 for a detailed discussion of critical accounting policies. General
During the three months ended September 30, 2009, Marine realized 66.4% of its royalty income from the sale of oil and 33.6% from the sale of natural gas, excluding its interest in Tidelands. Royalty income consists of oil and natural gas royalties received from producers.
Marine's royalty income is derived from the oil and natural gas production activities of unrelated parties. Marine's royalty income fluctuates from period to period based upon factors beyond Marine's control, including, without limitation, the number of productive wells drilled and maintained on leases subject to Marine's interest, the level of production over time from such wells and the prices at which the oil and natural gas from such wells are sold.
Important aspects of Marine's operations are conducted by third parties. Marine's royalty income is dependent on the operations of the working interest owners of the leases on which Marine has an overriding royalty interest. The oil and natural gas companies that lease tracts subject to Marine's interests are responsible for the production and sale of oil and natural gas and the calculation of royalty payments to Marine. The only obligation of the working interest owners to Marine is to make monthly overriding royalty payments of Marine's interest in the oil and natural gas sold. Marine's distributions are processed and paid by American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC as the agent for Marine.
The volume of oil and natural gas produced and its selling price are primary factors in the calculation of overriding royalty payments. Production is affected by the declining capability of the producing wells, the number of new wells drilled and the number of existing wells re-worked and placed back in production. Production from


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existing wells is anticipated to decrease in the future due to normal well depletion. Marine has no input with the operators regarding future drilling or re-working operations which could impact the oil and natural gas production on the leases on which Marine has an overriding royalty interest. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
In September 2008, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the Gulf Coast, which generally caused (i) a disruption of oil and natural gas production, (ii) damage to offshore production platforms and (iii) damage to onshore oil and natural gas pipeline facilities.
Because Marine is not the operator of the leases on which it has an overriding royalty interest, Marine has received limited information regarding the effects of the hurricanes on production. However, based on the limited information that Marine has received from operators and from data from the Minerals Management Service records and publications, Marine believes that all significant leases in which Marine has an interest that experienced a disruption in production were back on production by the third quarter of 2009. Production volumes may be slow to reach and may not reach the volumes realized before damage was caused by the hurricanes. The Minerals Management Service is a division of the U.S. government.
In general, Marine receives royalties two months after oil production and three months after natural gas production. The distribution to be paid in December 2009 will generally be based on production in July, August, September and October of 2009. At this time, Marine is unable to predict the extent to which this distribution will be affected by the damage caused by the hurricanes.
To Marine's knowledge, there were no platforms destroyed on the leases on which Tidelands has an overriding royalty interest, and Marine has been advised that the wells on these leases were generally only shut-in for a short period of time. The revenue received from Marine's equity interest in Tidelands accounted for approximately 50% of the distribution per unit paid in September 2009. Summary of Operating Results
Distributable income per unit for the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased 62.7% to $0.31 as compared to $0.83 for the comparable period in 2008. Distributions to unitholders amounted to $0.25 per unit for the three months ended September 30, 2009, a decrease of $0.52 per unit from the distributions for the comparable period in 2008. During the three months ended September 30, 2009, the difference between distributable income per unit and distributions per unit resulted from timing differences between the closing of the financial statements and the determination date of the distribution amount to unitholders.
For the three months ended September 30, 2009, oil production decreased 1,977 barrels and natural gas production decreased 5,004 thousand cubic feet
(mcf) from the levels realized in the comparable period in 2008. For the three months ended September 30, 2009, the average price realized for a barrel of oil decreased $75.04 from the price realized in the comparable period in 2008 and the average price realized for an mcf of natural gas decreased $9.01 from the price realized in the comparable period in 2008. The following table presents the net production quantities of oil and natural gas and distributable income and distributions per unit for the last five quarters.

                              Net Production
                              Quantities (1)
                                          Natural        Distributable        Distribution
    Quarter Ended       Oil (bbls)       Gas (mcf)      Income Per Unit         Per Unit
  September 30, 2008          6,972          41,078     $           0.83     $         0.77
  December 31, 2008           3,573          28,385     $           0.49     $         0.89
  March 31, 2009              2,130          28,473     $           0.30     $         0.30
  June 30, 2009               4,210          16,794     $           0.29     $         0.26
  September 30, 2009          4,995          36,074     $           0.31     $         0.25

(1) Excludes the Trust's interest in Tidelands.


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Results of Operations-Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 Distributable income decreased 61.9% to $629,184 for the three months ended September 30, 2009 from $1,650,319 realized for the comparable three months in 2008. Marine believes that the primary reason royalties were down for the three months ended September 30, 2009 was the 55.7% decrease in the price of oil and the 68.4% decrease in the price of natural gas. In addition, for the three months ended September 30, 2009, oil production decreased 28.4% and natural gas production decreased 12.2%.
Excluding the Trust's interest in Tidelands, oil and gas production (barrels of oil equivalent) in the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased 19.8% from the volumes realized in the quarter ended September 30, 2008, with a 28.4% decrease in the production of oil and a 12.2% decrease in the production of natural gas.
Income from oil royalties, excluding the Trust's interest in Tidelands, for the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased 68.3% to $297,967 from $939,032 realized for the comparable three months in 2008. There was a 28.4% decrease in production and a 55.7% decrease in the price realized.
Income from natural gas royalties, excluding the Trust's interest in Tidelands, for the three months ended September 30, 2009 decreased 72.2% to $150,589 from $541,466 for the comparable three months in 2008. There was a 12.2% decrease in production and a 68.4% decrease in the price realized.
Income from the Trust's interest in Tidelands decreased approximately 12.7% for the three months ended September 30, 2009 as compared to the comparable three months of 2008.
The following table presents the quantities of oil and natural gas sold and the average price realized from current operations for the three months ended September 30, 2009, and those realized in the comparable three months in 2008, excluding the Trust's interest in Tidelands.

                               Three Months Ended September 30,
                                   2009                 2008
                               (Unaudited)           (Unaudited)       % Change
            Oil
            Barrels sold              4,995                 6,972       (28.4 )%
            Average price    $        59.65        $       134.69       (55.7 )%

            Natural gas
            Mcf sold                 36,074                41,078       (12.2 )%
            Average price    $         4.17        $        13.18       (68.4 )%

General and administrative expenses decreased 42.9% to $68,241 in the three months ended September 30, 2009 from $119,455 in the prior year period, primarily due to decreased professional fees and expenses. Forward-Looking Statements
The statements discussed in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q regarding Marine's future financial performance and results, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933. This report uses the words "may," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," "intend," "plan," "budget," or other similar words to identify forward-looking statements. You should read statements that contain these words carefully because they discuss future expectations, contain projections of Marine's financial condition, and/or state other "forward-looking" information. Actual results may differ from expected results because of: reductions in price or demand for oil and natural gas, which might then lead to decreased production; reductions in production due to the depletion of existing wells or disruptions in service, which may be caused by storm damage to production facilities, blowouts or other production accidents, or geological changes such as cratering of productive formations; and the expiration or release of leases subject to Marine's interests. Additional risks are set forth in Marine's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June


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30, 2009. Events may occur in the future that Marine is unable to accurately predict or over which it has no control. If one or more of these uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual outcomes may vary materially from those forward-looking statements included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Website
Marine has an Internet website and has made available its Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to such reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, at www.marps-marinepetroleumtrust.com. Each of these reports will be posted on this website as soon as reasonably practicable after such report is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk Marine did not experience any significant changes in market risk during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Marine's market risk is described in more detail in "Item 7A: Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009.
Item 4T. Controls and Procedures
Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, as Trustee of the Trust, is responsible for establishing and maintaining Marine's disclosure controls and procedures. These controls and procedures are designed to ensure that material information relating to Marine is communicated to the Trustee. As of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, the Trustee carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of Marine's disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Based upon that evaluation, the Trustee concluded that Marine's disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting There has not been any change in Marine's internal control over financial reporting during the period covered by this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, Marine's internal control over financial reporting.


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