Property, Plant and Equipment

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

(5) Property, Plant and Equipment:

Property, plant and equipment is as follows:

($ in thousands)	March 31, 2012			December 31, 2011

Property, plant and equipment	$	13,779,230		$	13,638,136
Less: Accumulated depreciation		(6,278,081	)		(6,090,613	)
Property, plant and equipment, net	$	7,501,149		$	7,547,523

Depreciation expense is principally based on the composite group method. Depreciation expense was $210.3 million and $219.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. As a result of an independent study of the estimated remaining useful lives of our plant assets, we adopted new estimated remaining useful lives for certain plant assets as of October 1, 2011.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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