PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Capitalized costs relating to oil and gas producing activities and other property and equipment

Net property and equipment consists of the following as of the dates indicated:

	December 31,
	2012			2011
	(In Thousands)
Oil and gas properties:
Proved	$	9,696,498		$	8,825,142
Unproved	277,798			675,995
Accumulated depletion	(8,237,186		)	(6,901,997		)
Net oil and gas properties	1,737,110			2,599,140
Other property and equipment:
Gas gathering, furniture and fixtures, computer hardware and software, and other equipment	64,036			99,965
Accumulated depreciation and amortization	(46,908		)	(47,989		)
Net other property and equipment	17,128			51,976
Total net property and equipment(1)	$	1,754,238		$	2,651,116

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(1) At December 31, 2011, $98.7 million of the Company’s total net property and equipment was located in foreign countries. This balance was written off during 2012 when the South African properties were impaired and the Italian natural gas reserves were reclassified from proved to probable, causing a full ceiling test write-down of the Italian cost center, both of which are discussed in Note 1.

Summary of investments in unproved properties

The following table sets forth a summary as of December 31, 2012 of Forest’s unproved properties, all of which are located in the United States, by the year in which such property costs were incurred:

	Total		2012		2011		2010		2009 and Prior
	(In Thousands)
Acquisition costs	$	232,176	$	14,136	$	46,729	$	15,530	$	155,781
Exploration costs	45,622		37,614		3,940		641		3,427
Total unproved oil and gas properties	$	277,798	$	51,750	$	50,669	$	16,171	$	159,208