Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

Note 3 – Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

Our hedging strategy is designed to protect our near and intermediate term cash flows from future declines in oil and natural gas prices. This protection is essential to capital budget planning, which is sensitive to expenditures that must be committed to in advance, such as rig contracts and the purchase of tubular goods. We enter into derivative transactions to secure a commodity price for a portion of our expected future production that is acceptable at the time of the transaction. These derivatives are generally designated as cash flow hedges upon entering into the contracts. We do not enter into derivative transactions for trading purposes. We have no fair value hedges.

The nature of a derivative instrument must be evaluated to determine if it qualifies as a hedging instrument. If the instrument qualifies as a hedging instrument, it is recorded as either an asset or liability measured at fair value and subsequent changes in the derivative’s fair value are recognized in stockholders’ equity through other comprehensive income (loss), net of related taxes, to the extent the hedge is considered effective. Monthly settlements of effective hedges are reflected in revenue from oil and gas production and cash flows from operating activities. Instruments not qualifying as hedging instruments are recorded in our balance sheet at fair value, and changes in fair value are recognized in earnings through derivative expense (income). Monthly settlements of ineffective hedges and derivative instruments not qualifying as hedging instruments are recognized in earnings through derivative expense (income) and cash flows from operating activities.

We have entered into fixed-price swaps with various counterparties for a portion of our expected 2015 and 2016 oil and natural gas production from the Gulf Coast Basin. Our fixed-price oil swap settlements are based on an average of the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”) closing price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil during the entire calendar month. Our fixed-price gas swap settlements are based on the NYMEX price for the last day of a respective contract month. Swaps typically provide for monthly payments by us if prices rise above the swap price or monthly payments to us if prices fall below the swap price. Our fixed-price swap contracts are with The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Barclays Bank PLC, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of America and Natixis.

The following table illustrates our derivative positions for calendar years 2015 and 2016 as of May 4, 2015:

	Fixed-Price Swaps (NYMEX)
	Natural Gas				Oil
	Daily Volume (MMBtus/d)		Swap Price ($)		Daily Volume (Bbls/d)		Swap Price ($)
2015		10,000		4.005		1,000		89.00
2015		10,000		4.120		1,000		90.00
2015		10,000		4.150		1,000		90.25
2015		10,000		4.165		1,000		90.40
2015		10,000		4.220		1,000		91.05
2015		10,000		4.255		1,000		93.28
2015						1,000		93.37
2015						1,000		94.85
2015						1,000		95.00
2016		10,000		4.110		1,000		90.00
2016		10,000		4.120

During 2014, certain of our natural gas derivative instruments no longer qualified as cash flow hedges, as it was no longer probable, subsequent to the sale of our non-core Gulf of Mexico (“GOM”) conventional shelf properties (see Note 6 – Divestitures), that GOM natural gas production would be sufficient to cover the GOM volumes hedged. Accordingly, we discontinued hedge accounting for three natural gas contracts for the months of January through December 2015. Additionally, a small portion of our cash flow hedges are typically determined to be ineffective because oil and natural gas price changes in the markets in which we sell our products are not 100% correlative to changes in the underlying price basis indicative in the derivative contract. At March 31, 2015, we had accumulated other comprehensive income of $77.9 million, net of tax, related to the fair value of our effective cash flow hedges that were outstanding as of March 31, 2015. We believe that approximately $69.4 million, net of tax, of accumulated other comprehensive income will be reclassified into earnings in the next 12 months.

Derivatives qualifying as hedging instruments:

The following tables disclose the location and fair value amounts of derivatives qualifying as hedging instruments, as reported in our balance sheet, at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014:

Fair Value of Derivatives Qualifying as Hedging Instruments at March 31, 2015

	(In millions)
	Asset Derivatives			Liability Derivatives
Description	Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value		Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value
Commodity contracts	Current assets: Fair value of derivative contracts	$	113.0	Current liabilities: Fair value of derivative contracts	$	—
	Long-term assets: Fair value of derivative contracts		14.0	Long-term liabilities: Fair value of derivative contracts		—
		$	127.0		$	—

Fair Value of Derivatives Qualifying as Hedging Instruments at December 31, 2014

	(In millions)
	Asset Derivatives			Liability Derivatives
Description	Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value		Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value
Commodity contracts	Current assets: Fair value of derivative contracts	$	127.0	Current liabilities: Fair value of derivative contracts	$	—
	Long-term assets: Fair value of derivative contracts		14.3	Long-term liabilities: Fair value of derivative contracts		—
		$	141.3		$	—

The following table discloses the before tax effect of derivatives qualifying as hedging instruments, as reported in the statement of operations, for the three month periods ended March 31, 2015 and 2014:

Effect of Derivatives Qualifying as Hedging Instruments on the Statement of Operations

for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2015 and 2014

	(In millions)
Derivatives in Cash Flow Hedging Relationships	Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in Other Comprehensive Income on Derivatives					Gain (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income into Income (Effective Portion) (a)						Gain (Loss) Recognized in Income on Derivatives (Ineffective Portion)
	2015		2014			Location	2015		2014			Location	2015		2014
Commodity contracts	$	22.9	($	17.4	)	Operating revenue—oil/gas production	$	36.8	($	7.1	)	Derivative income (expense), net	$	0.9	($	0.6	)
Total	$	22.9	($	17.4	)		$	36.8	($	7.1	)		$	0.9	($	0.6	)

(a) For the three months ended March 31, 2015, effective hedging contracts increased oil revenue by $34.0 million and increased gas revenue by $2.8 million. For the three months ended March 31, 2014, effective hedging contracts decreased oil revenue by $2.5 million and decreased gas revenue by $4.6 million.

Derivatives not qualifying as hedging instruments:

The following table discloses the location and fair value amounts of our derivatives not qualifying as hedging instruments, as reported in our balance sheet, at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014.

Fair Value of Derivatives Not Qualifying as Hedging Instruments

	(In millions)
Description	Balance Sheet Location	March 31, 2015		December 31, 2014
Commodity contracts	Current assets: Fair value of derivative contracts	$	11.2	$	12.1

Gains or losses related to changes in fair value and cash settlements for derivatives not qualifying as hedging instruments are recorded as derivative income (expense) in the statement of operations. The following table discloses the before tax effect of our derivatives not qualifying as hedging instruments on the statement of operations for the three month period ended March 31, 2015. During the three month period ended March 31, 2014, all of our derivatives qualified as hedging instruments.

Amount of Gain Recognized in Derivative Income

(In millions)
Description	Three Months Ended March 31, 2015
Commodity contracts:
Cash settlements	$	3.1
Change in fair value		(0.9	)
Total gains on non-qualifying hedges	$	2.2

Offsetting of derivative assets and liabilities:

Our derivative contracts are subject to netting arrangements. It is our policy to not offset our derivative contracts in presenting the fair value of these contracts as assets and liabilities in our balance sheet. As of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014, all of our derivative contracts were in an asset position and therefore, there was no potential impact of the rights of offset.