Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

(15) COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Litigation

We are the subject of, or party to, a number of pending or threatened legal actions, administrative proceedings and claims arising in the ordinary course of our business. While many of these matters involve inherent uncertainty, we believe that the amount of the liability, if any, ultimately incurred with respect to these actions, proceedings or claims will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position as a whole or on our liquidity, capital resources or future annual results of operations. We estimate and provide for potential losses that may arise out of litigation and regulatory proceedings to the extent that such losses are probable and can be reasonably estimated. We will continue to evaluate our litigation and regulatory proceedings quarterly and will establish and adjust any estimated liability as appropriate to reflect our assessment of the then current status of litigation and regulatory proceedings. Significant judgment is required in making these estimates and our final liabilities may ultimately be materially different.

Transportation and Gathering Contracts

In first nine months 2016, our transportation and gathering commitments increased by approximately $2.8 billion over the next fifteen years primarily due to firm transportation contracts for both ethane and propane in connection with the start-up of the Mariner East pipeline, other pricing changes to current contracts and the Memorial Merger. As of September 30, 2016, the increase to future minimum transportation and gathering fees is as follows (in thousands):

		Transportation and Gathering Contracts
2016	$	60,522
2017		263,118
2018		263,734
2019		264,293
2020		214,487
Thereafter		1,774,351
	$	2,840,505

Delivery Commitments

In first nine months 2016, we entered into new agreements with several pipeline companies and end users to deliver natural gas volumes from our production. The new agreements are to deliver from 1,500 to 50,560 Mmbtu per day of natural gas and the commitments are between one and five years and began as early as second quarter 2016.

In first nine months 2016, in connection with the startup of Mariner East, we have contracted to deliver ethane production volumes from our Marcellus Shale wells of 20,000 bbls per day for 15 years.