SEC Company Response from BP PRUDHOE BAY ROYALTY TRUST (BPT) (CIK 0000850033) (BPPTU) — Dec 29, 2005
BP PRUDHOE BAY ROYALTY TRUST (BPT) (CIK 0000850033)
Date: Dec. 29, 2005 · CIK: 0000850033 · Accession: 0000911609-05-000005
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: December 15, 2005
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THE BANK OF NEW YORK
101 Barclay Street
New York, New York 10286
December 28, 2005
Ms. April Stifford
Branch Chief
Division of Corporation Finance
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E., Mail Stop 7010
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust
Form 10-K for the Year Ended December 31, 2004
Filed March 31, 2005
File No. 1-10243
Dear Ms. Stifford:
As Trustee of the BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust (the "Trust"), The Bank of
New York is responding to your letter dated December 15, 2005 in which the staff
of the Division provided the Trust with certain comments concerning the
above-captioned filing (the "2004 Form 10-K"). Our responses, as Trustee on
behalf of the Trust, to the staff's comments are indicated below. For
convenience of reference, we are setting forth the text of each comment,
followed by the Trust's response.
STAFF COMMENT 1
Selected financial data, page 27
--------------------------------
1. Please expand your disclosure to include the financial data for Trust
Corpus and Total Assets.
TRUST RESPONSE
The Trust proposes to amend Item 6 of the 2004 Form 10-K to read as set
forth on the following page:
<PAGE>
Securities and Exchange Commission
December 29, 2005
Page 2
"ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
"The following table presents in summary form selected financial information
regarding the Trust.
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
Year ended December 31
----------------------
2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
(in thousands, except per Unit amounts)
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Royalty revenues $ 82,682 55,986 33,061 59,934 65,026
Interest income $ 11 10 23 70 92
Trust administration expenses $ 976 1,168 822 724 732
Expenses reserve $ -- -- -- -- 500
---------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Cash earnings $ 81,717 54,828 32,262 59,280 63,886
Cash distributions $ 81,702 54,867 32,246 59,319 63,838
Cash distributions per unit $ 3.818 2.564 1.507 2.772 2.983
</TABLE>
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
December 31
-----------
2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
Trust corpus $ 12,881 14,730 16,498 18,564 20,669
Total assets $ 13,052 15,046 17,093 19,086 21,133
Units outstanding 21,400,000 21,400,000 21,400,000 21,400,000 21,400,000
</TABLE>
STAFF COMMENT 2
Trustee's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of
operations, page 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2003 compared to 2002, page 29
------------------------------
2. We note you did not include the paragraph explaining the increase in trust
administrative expense which was disclosed in your Form 10-K/A for the year
ended December 31, 2003. We believe this paragraph facilitates a better
understanding of your results of operation for the fiscal year ended 2003,
a period covered in your Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.
Please amend your filing to include such paragraph.
TRUST RESPONSE:
The Trust proposes to amend the text of the discussion of 2003 results
compared to 2002 in the 2004 Form 10-K to restore the requested paragraph. As so
amended the discussion will read as follows:
<PAGE>
Securities and Exchange Commission
December 29, 2005
Page 3
"Royalty revenues and cash distributions increased during 2003 by
approximately 69% and 70%, respectively, from 2002. The increases were due
to increases in WTI Prices, commencing during 2003, which averaged
approximately 26% higher during the twelve-month period ended September 30,
2003 (on which calendar 2003 cash basis revenues were based) than during
the preceding twelve-month period. A scheduled increase in Chargeable Costs
from $11.25 to $11.75 beginning in the first quarter of 2003, a small
increase in the average Cost Adjustment Factor and increases in Production
Taxes, which averaged approximately 34% higher during the twelve months
ended September 30, 2003 than during the preceding twelve months, combined
to offset somewhat the effect on royalty revenues of the higher WTI Prices
during fiscal 2003.
"Trust administrative expenses increased approximately $346,000
(approximately 46%) in 2003 from the prior year. The increase was due
principally to a one-time $315,360 payment by the Trust to BP America Inc.,
a subsidiary of BP, during the first quarter of 2003 to reimburse BP
America for annual fees paid by BP America to the New York Stock Exchange
for listing the Units. Such annual listing fees are payable by the Trust
under the terms of the Trust Agreement. The listing fees for the years 1990
through 1999, aggregating $315,360, were invoiced by the New York Stock
Exchange to BP America, which inadvertently paid them on behalf of the
Trust."
STAFF COMMENT 3
Controls and procedures, page 43
--------------------------------
3. We note the limitations included in your evaluation of disclosure controls
and procedures. It is not appropriate to conclude that your disclosure
controls and procedures are effective while noting certain limitations.
Please remove the limiting statements. It may be appropriate to indicate
that you place reliance upon the certifications of disclosure controls and
procedures from your working interest partners. If this is the case, you
must also indicate the accommodations you have made for not having control
over the information provided to you from the working interest owners.
TRUST RESPONSE
The Trustee has concluded that the limiting statements can be removed from
the Trust's evaluation of its disclosure controls and procedures. Accordingly,
the Trust proposes to amend the discussion of disclosure controls and procedures
in Item 9A of the 2004 Form 10-K to read as set forth below.
"DISCLOSURE CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
"The Trustee has disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
in Rule 13a-15(e) and Rule 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) that are
designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the
Trust in the reports that it files or submits under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act") is recorded,
processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified
in the SEC's rules and forms. These controls and procedures include
but are not limited to controls and procedures designed to ensure that
information required to be disclosed by the Trust in the reports that
it files or submits under the Exchange Act
<PAGE>
Securities and Exchange Commission
December 29, 2005
Page 4
is accumulated and communicated to the responsible trust officers of
the Trustee to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
"Under the terms of the Trust Agreement and the Conveyance, the
Company has significant disclosure and reporting obligations to the
Trust. The Company is required to provide the Trust such information
concerning the Royalty Interest as the Trustee may need and to which
the Company has access to permit the Trust to comply with any
reporting or disclosure obligations of the Trust pursuant to
applicable law and the requirements of any stock exchange on which the
Units are issued. These reporting obligations include furnishing the
Trust a report by February 28 of each year containing all information
of a nature, of a standard and in a form consistent with the
requirements of the SEC respecting the inclusion of reserve and
reserve valuation information in filings under the Exchange Act and
with applicable accounting rules. The report is required to set forth,
among other things, the Company's estimates of future net cash flows
from proved reserves attributable to the Royalty Interest, the
discounted present value of such proved reserves, the assumptions
utilized in arriving at the estimates contained in the report, and the
estimate of the quantities of proved reserves (including reductions of
proved reserves as a result of modification of the Company's estimates
of proved reserves from prior years) added during the preceding year
to the total proved reserves allocated to the Subject Leases as of
December 31, 1987. (See "THE ROYALTY INTEREST - Chargeable Costs" in
Item 1.)
"In addition, the Conveyance gives the Trust and its independent
accountants certain rights to inspect the books and records of the
Company and discuss the affairs, finances and accounts of the Company
relating to the Subject Leases with representatives of the Company; it
also requires the Company to provide the Trust with such other
information as the Trustee may reasonably request from time to time
and to which the Company has access.
"The Trustee's disclosure controls and procedures include
ensuring that the Trust receives the information and reports that the
Company is required to furnish to the Trust on a timely basis, that
the appropriate responsible personnel of the Trustee examine such
information and reports, and that information requested from and
provided by the Company is included in the reports that the Trust
files or submits under the Exchange Act.
"As of the end of calendar 2004, the trust officers of the
Trustee responsible for the administration of the Trust conducted an
evaluation of the Trust's disclosure controls and procedures. Their
evaluation considered, among other things, that the Trust Agreement
and the Conveyance impose enforceable legal obligations on the
Company, and that the Company has provided the information required by
those agreements and other information requested by the Trustee from
time to time on a timely basis. The officers concluded that the
Trust's disclosure controls and procedures are effective."
---------------------
Kindly let us know at your earliest convenience whether or not the proposed
amendments to the 2004 Form 10-K set forth above are responsive to the staff's
comments.
The Trustee understands and acknowledges that: (i) the Trust is responsible
for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the 2004 Form 10-K; (ii)
staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the
<PAGE>
Securities and Exchange Commission
December 29, 2005
Page 5
2004 Form 10-K; and (iii) the Trust may not assert staff comments as a defense
in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal
securities laws of the United States.
Please provide copies of any further comments or questions, and any other
correspondence concerning this matter to: Richard Bourgerie, Esq. Emmet, Marvin
& Martin, LLP, 120 Broadway, New York, New York 10271. Telephone: (212)
238-3027. Facsimile: (212) 238-3100. Email: rbourgerie@emmetmarvin.com.
Very truly yours,
THE BANK OF NEW YORK, as Trustee
By: /s/ Ming J. Ryan
------------------------------
Ming J. Ryan
Vice President
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