Geospace Technologies (GEOS) Risk Analysis

Our success depends on attracting and retaining highly skilled professionals. A number of our employees are highly-skilled engineers and other professionals. In addition, our success depends to a significant extent upon the abilities and efforts of the members of our senior management team. If we fail to continue to attract and retain such professionals, our ability to compete in the industry could be adversely affected.

We hold and from time to time apply for certain patents relating to some of our products. We cannot assure you that our patents will prove enforceable or free of challenge, that any patents will be issued for which we have applied or that competitors will not develop functionally similar technology outside the protection of any patents we have or may obtain.

The markets for most of our products are highly competitive. Many of our existing and potential competitors have substantially greater marketing, financial and technical resources than we do. Some competitors currently offer a broader range of instruments and equipment for sale than we do and may offer financing arrangements to customers on terms that we may not be able to match. In addition, new competitors may enter the market and competition could intensify. Revenue from our products may not continue at current volumes or prices if current competitors or new market entrants introduce new products with better features, performance, price or other characteristics than our products. Competitive pressures or other factors may also result in significant price competition that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

In our Oil and Gas Markets segment, we generally market many of our products to seismic service contractors. We estimate that fewer than 30 oil and gas seismic contracting companies are currently operating in countries other than those operating in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union, India, the People's Republic of China and certain Eastern European countries, where such information is difficult to verify. We estimate that fewer than 15 seismic contractors are engaged in marine seismic exploration activities. Due to these market factors, a relatively small number of customers, some of whom are experiencing financial difficulties, account for most of our oil and gas product revenue. From time to time, these contractors have sought to vertically integrate and acquire our competitors, which has influenced their supplier decisions before and after such transactions. In addition, consolidation among our customers may further concentrate our business to a limited number of customers and expose us to increased risks related to dependence on a small number of customers. We market our seabed PRM systems' products to large oil and gas companies. Since this product's introduction in 2002, we have received system orders from three offshore oil and gas operators: BP, Shell and Equinor, which have accounted for a significant portion of our revenue in fiscal year 2014 and prior fiscal years. We have not received any orders for large-scale seabed PRM systems since November 2012. Our emerging markets segment primarily sells its products to a small number of agencies within the U.S. government. The loss of a small number of these customers, and particularly our oil and gas customers, could materially and adversely impact our future revenues.

The physical and regulatory effects of climate change could have a negative impact on our operations, our customers' operations and the overall demand for our customers' products and, accordingly, our services. There is an increasing focus of local, state, regional, national and international regulatory bodies on Greenhouse Gas ("GHG") emissions and climate change issues. Legislation to regulate GHG emissions has periodically been introduced in the U.S. Congress, and there has been a wide-ranging policy debate, both in the United States and internationally, regarding the impact of these gases and possible means for their regulation. These efforts have included consideration of cap-and-trade programs, carbon taxes, GHG reporting and tracking programs and regulations that directly limit GHG emissions from certain sources. Some of the proposals would require industries to meet stringent new standards that would require substantial reductions in carbon emissions. Those reductions could be costly and difficult to implement. In the absence of federal GHG-limiting legislation, the EPA has determined that GHG emissions present a danger to public health and the environment and has adopted regulations that, among other things, establish construction and operating permit reviews for GHG emissions from certain large stationary sources, require the monitoring and annual reporting of GHG emissions from certain oil and natural gas system sources, implement Clean Air Act emission standards directing the reduction of methane emissions from certain new, modified, or reconstructed facilities in the oil and natural gas sector, and together with the DOT, implement GHG emissions limits on vehicles manufactured for operation in the United States. In April 2016, the United States signed the Paris Agreement, which requires countries to review and "represent a progression" in their nationally determined contributions, which set emissions reduction goals, every five years. Under the Paris Agreement, the Biden Administration has committed the United States to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52% from 2005 levels by 2030. In November 2021, the Unites States and other countries entered into the Glasgow Climate Pact, which includes a range of measures designed to address climate change, including, but not limited to the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, reducing methane emissions 30% by 2030, and cooperating toward the advancement of the development of clean energy. Several states and geographic regions in the United States have also adopted legislation and regulations to reduce emissions of GHGs, including cap and trade regimes and commitments to contribute to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. Governmental, scientific, and public concern over the threat of climate change arising from GHG emissions has resulted in increasing political risks in the United States. President Biden and Congress have identified climate change as a priority, and it is likely that additional executive orders, regulatory action, and/or legislation targeting greenhouse gas emissions, or prohibiting or restricting oil and gas development activities in certain areas, will be proposed and/or promulgated during the Biden Administration. President Biden issued an executive order imposing a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and offshore waters pending completion of a comprehensive review and reconsideration of federal oil and gas permitting and leasing practices. President Biden's order also establishes climate change as a primary foreign policy and national security consideration, affirms that achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by or before midcentury is a critical priority, affirms the Biden Administration's desire to establish the United States as a leader in addressing climate change, generally further integrates climate change and environmental justice considerations into government agencies' decision-making, and eliminates fossil fuel subsidies, among other measures. Other actions impacting oil and natural gas production activities that could be pursued by the Biden administration may include more restrictive requirements for the establishment of pipeline infrastructure or the permitting of liquified natural gas export facilities. It is not possible at this time to predict the timing and effects of climate change or whether additional climate-related legislation, regulations or other measures will be adopted at the local, state, regional, national and international levels. However, continued efforts by governments and non-governmental organizations to reduce GHG emissions appear likely, and additional legislation, regulation or other measures that control or limit GHG emissions or otherwise seek to address climate change could adversely affect our customers and our business. Because our business depends on the level of oil exploration, existing or future laws or regulations related to GHGs and climate change, including incentives to conserve energy or use alternative energy sources, our business could be negatively impacted if such laws or regulations reduce demand for our customers' products and, accordingly, our services. These political, litigation, and financial risks may result in our customers restricting or cancelling exploration or production activities which also could reduce demand for our products and services. In addition to regulatory impacts, the occurrence of weather events caused or exacerbated by climate change could impact local, national or global commodity demand or availability in ways that could be material to our business and/or the business of our customers.