FS Energy and Power Fund
Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements (Continued)
(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Note 5. Distributions (Continued)
The Company has in the past and may experience additional restructurings or defaults in the future. Any restructuring or default may have an impact on the level of income received by the Company.
The determination of the tax attributes of the Company’s distributions is made annually as of the end of the Company’s fiscal year based upon the Company’s taxable income for the full year and distributions paid for the full year. Therefore, a determination made on a quarterly basis may not be representative of the actual tax attributes of the Company’s distributions for a full year. The actual tax characteristics of distributions to shareholders are reported to shareholders annually on Form 1099-DIV.
Net capital losses may be carried forward indefinitely, and their character is retained as short-term or long-term. As of March 31, 2020, the Company had short-term and long-term capital loss carryforwards available to offset future realized capital gains of $14,741 and $569,998, respectively.
As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the gross unrealized appreciation on the Company’s investments, swap contracts and unrealized gain on foreign currency was $71,712 and $109,735, respectively, and the gross unrealized depreciation on the Company’s investments, swap contracts and unrealized loss on foreign currency was $1,510,374 and $790,173, respectively.
The aggregate cost of the Company’s investments for federal income tax purposes totaled $3,979,664 and $4,169,633 as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively. The aggregate net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on a tax basis was $(1,438,662) and $(680,438) as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively.
As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the Company had deferred tax assets of $152,470 and $135,803, respectively, resulting from net operating losses and capital losses of the Company’s wholly-owned taxable subsidiaries. As of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, certain wholly-owned taxable subsidiaries anticipated that they would be unable to fully utilize their deferred tax assets, therefore the deferred tax assets were offset by valuation allowances of $152,470 and $135,803, respectively. For the three months ended March 31, 2020 and the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company did not record a provision for taxes related to its wholly-owned taxable subsidiaries.
Note 6. Financial Instruments
The Company may trade in financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of its investing activities. During the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company utilized swap contracts to economically hedge certain risks against natural gas and crude oil price exposure related to certain investments in the Company’s portfolio. While the use of these derivative instruments limits the downside risk of adverse price movements, their use also limits future revenues from upward price movements.
The Company’s fixed price swaps were settled monthly based on differences between the fixed price specified in the contract and the referenced settlement price. When the referenced settlement price was less than the price specified in the contract, the Company received an amount from the counterparty based on the price difference multiplied by the volume. Similarly, when the referenced settlement price exceeded the price specified in the contract, the Company paid the counterparty an amount based on the price difference multiplied by the volume. The prices contained in these fixed price swaps are based on the NYMEX Henry Hub for natural gas and the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate, or NYMEX WTI, for oil. Gas volumes are measured in one million British thermal units, or MMBtus, and oil volumes are measured in barrels, or Bbls. As of March 31, 2020, the Company did not have any fixed price swap positions.
In addition, the Company entered into oil basis swap positions, which settled on the pricing index to basis differential of Argus Light Louisiana Sweet Crude Oil, or Argus LLS, to NYMEX WTI. As of March 31, 2020, the Company did not have any oil basis swap positions for Argus LLS.