Mulacek Phil E 4

What Happened Phil E. Mulacek, a reported 10% owner of Empire Petroleum Corp (EP), exercised derivative securities on March 10, 2026 to acquire 1,003,344 common shares at an exercise price of $2.99 per share, for a total cash outlay of $2,999,999. The filing shows the acquisition (transaction code M — option exercise/conversion). No open‑market sale of the acquired shares is reported in this Form 4.

Key Details

• Transaction date and price: March 10, 2026 — 1,003,344 shares @ $2.99 = $2,999,999.
• Additional line in the filing shows a derivative disposition entry with "N/A" shares at $0.00; the filing provides no further detail on that entry.
• Shares owned after transaction: not disclosed in this filing.
• Filing date: Form 4 filed March 12, 2026 — appears to be filed within the normal reporting window.
• No 10b5‑1 plan, tax withholding, or immediate sale of the acquired shares is indicated in the reported entries.

Context The transaction is an exercise of derivative instruments (options/conversions) rather than an open‑market purchase; Mulacek paid the exercise price to receive shares. As a 10% owner, this is a significant shareholder transaction (ownership-level) rather than routine executive compensation trading. Exercises that result in retained shares increase insider ownership but do not by themselves indicate the insider’s current view of the stock; the filing is a factual record of the acquisition.