Amplify Energy (AMPY) Risk Analysis

The marketability of our oil and natural gas production depends in part on the availability, proximity and capacity of pipelines and other transportation methods, gathering systems and processing facilities owned by third parties. 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 or lack of contracted capacity on such systems. For example, our ability to produce and sell oil from the Beta properties will depend on the availability of the pipeline infrastructure between platforms as well as the San Pedro Bay Pipeline for delivery of that oil to shore, and any unavailability of that pipeline infrastructure or pipeline could cause us to shut in all or a portion of the production from the Beta properties for the length of such unavailability. Our access to transportation options can also be affected by U.S. federal and state regulation of oil and natural gas production and transportation, general economic conditions and changes in supply and demand. The curtailments arising from these and similar circumstances may last from a few days to several months. In many cases, we are provided with only limited, if any, notice as to when these circumstances will arise and their duration. Any significant curtailment in gathering system or transportation or processing facility capacity could reduce our ability to market our oil and natural gas production and harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Water is an essential component of oil and natural gas production during the drilling, and in particular, hydraulic fracturing, process. Our inability to locate sufficient amounts of water or to dispose of or recycle water used in our development and production operations could adversely impact our operations. Moreover, the imposition of new environmental initiatives and regulations could include restrictions on our ability to conduct certain operations such as hydraulic fracturing or disposal of waste, including, but not limited to, produced water, drilling fluids and other wastes associated with the exploration, development or production of natural gas. The Clean Water Act imposes restrictions and strict controls regarding the discharge of produced waters and other natural gas and oil waste into "waters of the United States." Permits must be obtained to discharge pollutants to such waters and to conduct construction activities in such waters, which include certain wetlands. The Clean Water Act and similar state laws provide for civil, criminal and administrative penalties for any unauthorized discharges of pollutants and unauthorized discharges of reportable quantities of oil and other hazardous substances. State and federal discharge regulations prohibit the discharge of produced water and sand, drilling fluids, drill cuttings and certain other substances related to the natural gas and oil industry into coastal waters. Compliance with current and future environmental regulations and permit requirements governing the withdrawal, storage and use of surface water or groundwater necessary for hydraulic fracturing of wells, and the disposal and recycling of produced water, drilling fluids, and other wastes, may increase our operating costs and cause delays, interruptions or termination of our operations, the extent of which cannot be predicted. In addition, in some instances, the operation of underground injection wells for the disposal of waste has been alleged to cause earthquakes. In some jurisdictions, such issues have led to orders prohibiting continued injection or the suspension of drilling in certain wells identified as possible sources of seismic activity or resulted in stricter regulatory requirements relating to the location and operation of underground injection wells. For example, we conduct oil and gas drilling and production operations in the Mississippian Lime formation in Oklahoma, a high-water play, which requires us to dispose of large volumes of saltwater generated as part of our operations. In 2015, the Oklahoma Geological Survey attributed an increase in seismic activity in Oklahoma to saltwater disposal wells in the Arbuckle formation. Around the same time, the OCC, whose Oil and Gas Conservation Division regulates oil and gas operations in Oklahoma, began issuing regulations targeting saltwater disposal activities in certain areas of interest within the Arbuckle formation. The regulations include operational requirements (i.e., mechanical integrity testing of wells permitted for disposal of 20,000 or more barrels of water per day, daily monitoring and recording of well pressure and discharge volume), as well as orders to shut-in wells, reduce well depths, or decrease disposal volumes. Under these regulations, the OCC ordered us to limit the volume of saltwater disposed of in saltwater disposal wells in the Arbuckle formation and established caps for ten of our saltwater disposal wells, which caps are still in place. To ensure that we had an adequate number of wells for disposal, we secured permits for additional saltwater disposal wells outside of the Arbuckle formation. We are currently in compliance with all OCC saltwater disposal requirements, and have maintained our production base without any negative material impact. However, any additional orders or regulations addressing concerns about seismic activity from well injection in jurisdictions where we operate could affect our operations. See "Item 1. Business - Environmental, Occupational Health and Safety Matters and Regulations - Water Discharges and Other Waste Discharges & Spills" and "- Hydraulic Fracturing" for an additional description of the laws and regulations relating to the discharge of water and other wastes and hydraulic fracturing that affect us.

Our oil and natural gas development and production operations are subject to complex and stringent laws and regulations administered by governmental authorities vested with broad authority relating to the exploration for and the development, production and transportation of oil and natural gas. 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. We may incur substantial costs in order to maintain compliance with these existing laws and regulations. Failure to comply with laws and regulations applicable to our operations, including any evolving interpretation and enforcement by governmental authorities, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Our oil and natural gas development and production operations are also subject to stringent and complex federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the discharge of materials into the environment, worker health and safety aspects of our operations, or otherwise relating to environmental protection. These laws and regulations may impose numerous obligations applicable to our operations, including the acquisition of a permit before conducting regulated drilling activities; the restriction of types, quantities and concentration of materials that can be released into the environment; the limitation or prohibition of drilling activities on certain lands lying within wilderness, wetlands, seismically active areas and other protected areas; the application of specific health and safety criteria addressing worker protection; and the imposition of substantial liabilities for pollution resulting from our operations. Numerous governmental authorities, such as the EPA and analogous state agencies, have the power to enforce compliance with these laws and regulations and the permits issued under them, often requiring difficult and costly compliance measures or corrective actions. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations may result in the assessment of sanctions, including administrative, civil or criminal penalties, the imposition of investigatory or remedial obligations, the suspension or revocation of necessary permits, licenses and authorizations, the requirement that additional pollution controls be installed and, in some instances, the issuance of orders limiting or prohibiting some or all of our operations. We may also experience delays in obtaining or be unable to obtain required permits, which may delay or interrupt our operations and limit our growth and revenue. In addition, the long-term trend in environmental regulation has been to place more restrictions and limitations on activities that may affect the environment. Thus, our costs of compliance may increase if existing laws and regulations are revised or reinterpreted, or if new laws and regulations become applicable to our operations. Under certain environmental laws that impose strict as well as joint and several liability, we may be required to remediate contaminated properties currently or formerly owned or operated by us or facilities of third parties that received waste generated by our operations regardless of whether such contamination resulted from the conduct of others or from consequences of our own actions that were in compliance with all applicable laws at the time those actions were taken. In addition, claims for damages to persons or property, including natural resources, may result from the environmental, health and safety impacts of our operations. Moreover, public interest in the protection of the environment has increased in recent years. New laws and regulations continue to be enacted, particularly at the state level, and, under the Biden Administration, the long-term trend of more expansive and stringent environmental legislation and regulations applied to the crude oil and natural gas industry could continue, resulting in increased costs of doing business and consequently affecting profitability. To the extent laws are enacted, or other governmental action is taken that restricts drilling or imposes more stringent and costly operating, waste handling, disposal and cleanup requirements, our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Further, the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (the "Mineral Act") prohibits ownership of any direct or indirect interest in federal onshore oil and natural gas leases by a foreign citizen or a foreign entity except through equity ownership in a corporation formed under the laws of the United States or of any U.S. State or territory, and only if the laws, customs, or regulations of their country of origin or domicile do not deny similar or like privileges to citizens or entities of the United States. If these restrictions are violated, the oil and natural gas lease can be canceled in a proceeding instituted by the United States Attorney General. We qualify as an entity formed under the laws of the United States or of any U.S. state or territory. Although the regulations promulgated and administered by the BLM pursuant to the Mineral Act provide for agency designations of non-reciprocal countries, there are presently no such designations in effect. It is possible that our stockholders may be citizens of foreign countries who do not own their stock in a U.S. corporation, or that even if such stock are held through a U.S. corporation, their country of citizenship may be determined to be non-reciprocal countries under the Mineral Act. In such event, any federal onshore oil and natural gas leases held by us could be subject to cancellation based on such determination. See "Item 1. Business - Environmental, Occupational Health and Safety Matters and Regulations" and "- Other Regulation of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry" for a description of the more significant laws and regulations that affect us.

Securities class action lawsuits and derivative lawsuits are often brought against public companies that have entered into acquisition, merger or other similar agreements. Mergers like the Mergers are frequently subject to litigation or other legal proceedings, including actions alleging that our Board breached their fiduciary duties to our stockholders by entering into the Merger Agreement. We cannot provide assurance that such litigation or other legal proceedings will not be brought. If litigation or other legal proceedings are in fact brought against us, or against our Board, we will defend against it, but might not be successful in doing so. An adverse outcome in such matters, as well as the costs and efforts of a defense even if successful, could have a material adverse effect on the business, results of operation or financial position of us or the combined company, including through the possible diversion of company resources or distraction of key personnel. Lawsuits that may be brought against us, the Acquired Companies or our or their directors could also seek, among other things, injunctive relief or other equitable relief, including a request to enjoin us from consummating the Mergers. One of the conditions to the Closing are that no order, award or judgment by any court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction has been entered and continues to be in effect and no law has been adopted or is effective, in either case, that prohibits or makes illegal the Closing. Consequently, if a plaintiff is successful in obtaining an order, award or judgment prohibiting completion of the Mergers, that order, award or judgment may delay or prevent the Mergers from being completed within the expected time frame or at all, which may adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

The EPA has adopted and implemented regulations to restrict emissions of GHGs under existing provisions of the CAA. In addition, the EPA has also adopted rules requiring the monitoring and reporting of GHG emissions from specified sources on an annual basis in the United States, including, among others, certain oil and natural gas production facilities, which includes certain of our operations. The adoption and implementation of any regulations 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 and natural gas we produce. Such climate change regulatory and legislative initiatives could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In August 2022, then-President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Among other things, the Inflation Reduction Act includes a methane emissions reduction program that amends the CAA to include a Methane Emissions and Waste Reduction Incentive Program for petroleum and natural gas systems. This program requires the EPA to impose a "waste emissions charge" on certain oil and gas sources that are already required to report under EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. To implement the program, in May 2024, the EPA finalized revisions to the Greenhouse Gas reporting Program for petroleum and natural gas facilities. The emissions reported under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program will be the basis for any payments under the Methane Emissions Reduction Program. However, petitions for reconsideration to the EPA are pending and litigation in the D.C. Circuit has commenced. In November 2024, the EPA finalized a regulation to implement the Inflation Reduction Act's Waste Emissions Charge which became effective on January 1, 2025. The fee imposed under the Methane Emissions and Waste Reduction Incentive Program for 2024 is $900 per ton emitted over annual methane emissions thresholds, and increases to $1,200 in 2025, and $1,500 in 2026. However, in January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the heads of all federal agencies to identify and begin the processes to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions that are unduly burdensome on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources. Consequently, future implementation and enforcement of these rules remain uncertain at this time. Additionally, many of the states have taken legal measures to reduce emissions of GHGs, including through the planned development of GHG emission inventories and/or regional GHGs cap and trade programs. For example, in October 2023, California enacted legislation that will ultimately require certain companies that (i) do business in California to publicly disclose their Scopes 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions, with third party assurance of such data, and issue public reports on their climate-related financial risk and related mitigation measures and (ii) operate in California and make certain climate-related claims to provide enhanced disclosures around the achievement of climate-related claims, including the use of voluntary carbon credits to achieve such claims. At the international level, in 2015, at COP21 the international community adopted the Paris Agreement, an international treaty aimed at addressing climate change whereby parties agreed to determine national contributions and set GHG emission reduction goals every five years beginning in 2020. In February 2021, the prior Biden Administration announced reentry of the U.S. into the Paris Agreement along with a new "nationally determined contribution" for the U.S. GHG emissions that would achieve emissions reductions of at least 50% relative to 2005 levels by 2030. Pursuant to its obligations as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, the United States set a target to reduce its GHG emissions by 50-52% by the year 2030 as compared with 2005 levels. At COP28, nearly 200 countries, agreed to transition away from fossil fuels while accelerating action in this decade to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Additionally, at COP28, member countries entered into an agreement that calls for actions towards achieving, at a global scale, a tripling of renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030. The goals of the agreement, among other things, are to accelerate efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power, phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, and take other measures that drive the transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. Most recently, at the COP29, delegates approved rules to operationalize international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, including a new Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism to trade UN-approved carbon credits. Additionally, participants at COP29 representing 159 countries met to review progress toward the goals of the Global Methane Pledge and the addition of nearly $500 million in new grant funding for methane abatement. However, in January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the immediate notice to the United Nations of the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and any similar commitment made under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Despite this, various states and local governments in the U.S. have vowed to continue to enact regulations to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. Additionally, on March 6, 2024, the SEC adopted the SEC Climate Rules. The SEC Climate Rules require registrants to include certain climate-related disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports, including, but not limited to, information about material climate-related risks; the registrant's governance of climate-related risks and relevant risk management processes; material climate-related targets and goals; and certain financial effects resulting from severe weather events and other natural conditions in a note to their audited financial statements (subject to de minimis thresholds). Larger registrants will also be required to disclose information about material Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, which will be subject to a phased-in assurance requirement. However, the SEC voluntarily stayed the SEC Climate Rules in April 2024 pending judicial review of petitions challenging the rules. We are currently evaluating the impact of the SEC Climate Rules and there remains uncertainty as to whether these rules will withstand pending and future legal challenges. Although it is not possible at this time to predict how legislation or new regulations that may be adopted to address GHG emissions (including those related to carbon pricing schemes) would impact our business, any such future laws and regulations that require reporting of GHGs or otherwise limit emissions of GHGs from our equipment and operations could require us to incur costs to monitor and report on GHG emissions or reduce emissions of GHGs associated with our operations, and such requirements also could adversely affect demand for the oil and natural gas that we produce and restrict our ability to execute on our business strategy, reducing our access to financial markets, or create greater potential for governmental investigations or litigation. Finally, most scientists have concluded that increasing concentrations of GHGs in the Earth's atmosphere may produce climate changes that have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, droughts and floods and other climatic events. If any such effects were to occur, they could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. For example, such effects could adversely affect or delay demand for the oil or natural gas produced or cause us to incur significant costs in preparing for or responding to the effects of climatic events themselves. Potential adverse effects could include disruption of our production activities, increases in our costs of operation or reductions in the efficiency of our operations, impacts on our personnel, supply chain, or distribution chain, as well as potentially increased costs for insurance coverages in the aftermath of such effects. Our ability to mitigate the adverse physical impacts of climate change depends in part upon our disaster preparedness and response and business continuity planning. Further, energy needs could increase or decrease as a result of extreme weather conditions depending on the duration and magnitude of any such climate changes. Increased energy use due to weather changes may require us to invest in additional equipment to serve increased demand. A decrease in energy use due to weather changes may affect our financial condition through decreased revenues. The effect of fluctuations on supply and demand may become more pronounced within specific geographic oil and natural gas producing areas, which may cause these conditions to occur with greater frequency or magnify the effects of these conditions.

We are subject to credit risk due to concentration of our oil and natural gas receivables. The inability or failure of our significant customers, or any purchasers of our production, to meet their payment obligations to us or their insolvency or liquidation could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. To the extent that purchasers of our production rely on access to the credit or equity markets to fund their operations, there could be an increased risk that those purchasers could default in their contractual obligations to us. If for any reason we were to determine that it was probable that some or all of the accounts receivable from any one or more of the purchasers of our production were uncollectible, we would recognize a charge to earnings of that period for the probable loss and could suffer a material reduction in our liquidity and cash flows.