Postretirement Benefits

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Postretirement Benefits

Postretirement benefits

A.  Pension and postretirement benefit costs    

	U.S. Pension Benefits				Non-U.S. Pension Benefits				Other Postretirement Benefits
(Millions of dollars)	March 31				March 31				March 31
	2021		2020		2021		2020		2021		2020
For the three months ended:
Components of net periodic benefit cost:
Service cost	$	—	$	—	$	14	$	14	$	25	$	23
Interest cost	82		121		14		19		16		26
Expected return on plan assets	(179)		(198)		(32)		(35)		(2)		(3)
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)	—		—		—		—		(10)		(9)
(Gain) loss on remeasurement of pension obligations 1	—		—		—		(254)		—		—
Net periodic benefit cost (benefit) 2	$	(97)	$	(77)	$	(4)	$	(256)	$	29	$	37

1    Total lump-sum transfers out of certain pension plans exceeded the service and interest cost for 2020, which required us to follow settlement accounting and remeasure the plans' obligations as of March 31, 2020.

2    The service cost component is included in Operating costs in the Consolidated Statement of Results of Operations. All other components are included in Other income (expense) in the Consolidated Statement of Results of Operations.

We made $106 million of contributions to our pension and other postretirement plans during the three months ended March 31, 2021. We currently anticipate full-year 2021 contributions of approximately $310 million.

B.  Defined contribution benefit costs

Total company costs related to our defined contribution plans, which are included in Operating Costs in the Consolidated Statement of Results of Operations, were as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31
(Millions of dollars)	2021		2020
U.S. Plans	$	125	$	19
Non-U.S. Plans	26		23
	$	151	$	42

The increase in the U.S. defined contribution benefit costs for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was primarily due to the fair value adjustments related to our non-qualified deferred compensation plans.