Restructuring Costs

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Restructuring [Abstract]

Restructuring and Related Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

On February 28, 2018, QEP announced its intention to become a pure-play Permian Basin company, which includes plans to market its assets in the Williston Basin, the Uinta Basin and Haynesville/Cotton Valley. As a part of the Strategic Initiatives, QEP has incurred or expects to incur costs associated with contractual termination benefits including severance and accelerated vesting of share-based compensation. These termination benefits will be accounted for under ASC 712, Compensation - Nonretirement Postemployment Benefits and ASC 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation. During the first quarter of 2018, the Company incurred but has not yet paid $6.2 million of costs associated with these termination benefits, including $3.4 million of severance and $2.8 million of accelerated share-based compensation, recorded in "Accounts payable and accrued expenses" and "General and administrative" expense in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Due to the nature of the Strategic Initiatives and uncertain factors such as timing and terms of the potential divestitures, the Company is not able to reasonably estimate the total cost to be incurred as a part of this restructuring.

In connection with the Strategic Initiatives, QEP also approved an employee retention program and recognized $1.7 million of expense during the three months endedMarch 31, 2018 and recorded these costs in "Accounts payable and accrued expenses" and "General and administrative" expense in the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. QEP expects to incur an additional $18.3 million of expense in 2018 and $5.0 million in 2019 related to the retention program.