Allowance Accounts

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Allowance Accounts [Abstract]

Allowance Accounts

Note 18 — Allowance Accounts

The following table sets forth the activity in our valuation accounts for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2011 (in thousands):

	Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts			Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowance
Balance, December 31, 2008	$	5,905		$	3,317
Additions		9,220			—
Deductions (1)		(9,953	)		(3,317	)
Balance, December 31, 2009		5,172			—
Additions (2)		4,108			8,497
Deductions(3)		(4,753	)		—
Balance, December 31, 2010		4,527			8,497
Additions(4)		61			5,813
Deductions		(521	)		—
Balance, December 31, 2011	$	4,067		$	14,310

(1)   Amounts include reductions of $5.9 million to the allowance for uncollectible accounts and $3.3 million to the  deferred tax valuation allowance to reflect the deconsolidation of Cal Dive in June 2009 (Note 3).

(2)   Amounts include a $4.0 million bad debt allowance related to a large international construction contract and the valuation allowance includes a $7.3 million valuation allowance related to our WOSEA operations with the remaining allowance being related to our acquisition of the remaining 50% of the Camelot field in the United Kingdom.

(3)   Includes the $3.7 million of bad debt expense related to settlement of third party claims related to a terminated international construction contract in Australia (Note 16).

(4)   The valuation allowance includes $4.9 million related to our WOSEA operations and $0.9 million to our oil and gas operations in the United Kingdom.   WOSEA has a full valuation allowance against its deferred tax asset balance.

See Note 2 for a detailed discussion regarding our accounting policy on Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Uncollectible Accounts and Note 10 for a detailed discussion of the valuation allowance related to our deferred tax assets.