EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

We have a defined benefit pension plan covering certain United Kingdom employees (the “U.K. Plan”). In connection with the sale of the Company’s Norwegian operations in 2018, all assets and liabilities associated with the defined benefit pension plan covering certain Norwegian employees (the “Norwegian Plan”) were transferred to the buyer. The schedule of net periodic pension credit includes only the U.K. Plan in 2019 and combined amounts from the Norwegian and U.K. Plans in 2018.

Net periodic pension credit includes the following components (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2019			2018			2019			2018
	(unaudited)			(unaudited)			(unaudited)			(unaudited)
Service cost	$	—		$	23		$	—		$	70
Interest cost	561			563			1,740			1,752
Expected return on plan assets	(574		)	(909		)	(1,781		)	(2,827		)
Amortization of unrecognized prior service cost	8			—			24			—
Net periodic pension credit	$	(5	)	$	(323	)	$	(17	)	$	(1,005	)

The expected long-term rate of return on invested assets is determined based on the weighted average of expected returns on asset investment categories for the U.K. Plan as follows: 3.25% overall, 5.77% for equities and 2.66% for debt securities. We expect to contribute $2.3 million to the U.K. Plan for 2019, of which $1.7 million has been contributed through September 30, 2019.