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Asset Retirement Obligations
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]  
Asset Retirement Obligations
Asset Retirement Obligations
The following table summarizes the changes in the Company’s asset retirement obligations:
 
December 31,
 
2017
 
2016
 
(In thousands)
Asset retirement obligations:
 

 
 

Beginning asset retirement obligations
$
63,574

 
$
43,938

Liabilities incurred during period

 
14,235

Revisions in estimated retirement obligations
(3,945
)
 

Accretion expense
6,966

 
5,401

Ending asset retirement obligations
$
66,595

 
$
63,574


 The Ghanaian legal and regulatory regime regarding oil field abandonment and other environmental matters is evolving. Currently, no Ghanaian environmental regulations expressly require that companies abandon or remove offshore assets. Under the Environmental Permit for the Jubilee Field, a decommissioning plan will be prepared and submitted to the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency. ASC 410—Asset Retirement and Environmental Obligations requires the Company to recognize this liability in the period in which the liability was incurred. The TEN fields commenced production during the third quarter of 2016 and an asset retirement obligation was recorded for the facilities and wells that came online during 2016. Additional asset retirement obligations will be recorded in the period in which additional wells within our producing fields are commissioned.