Commodity Derivative Contracts

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Commodity Derivative Contracts

Note 5. Commodity Derivative Contracts

We do not apply hedge accounting treatment to our oil and natural gas derivative contracts; therefore, the changes in the fair values of these instruments are recognized in income in the period of change.  These fair value changes, along with the settlements of expired contracts, are shown under “Commodity derivatives expense (income)” in our Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Historically, we have entered into various oil and natural gas derivative contracts to provide an economic hedge of our exposure to commodity price risk associated with anticipated future oil and natural gas production and to provide more certainty to our future cash flows. We do not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading purposes. Generally, these contracts have consisted of various combinations of price floors, collars, three-way collars, fixed-price swaps and fixed-price swaps enhanced with a sold put. The production that we hedge has varied from year to year depending on our levels of debt, financial strength and expectation of future commodity prices.

We manage and control market and counterparty credit risk through established internal control procedures that are reviewed on an ongoing basis.  We attempt to minimize credit risk exposure to counterparties through formal credit policies, monitoring procedures and diversification, and all of our commodity derivative contracts are with parties that are lenders under our Bank Credit Agreement (or affiliates of such lenders). As of March 31, 2016, all of our outstanding derivative contracts were subject to enforceable master netting arrangements whereby payables on those contracts can be offset against receivables from separate derivative contracts with the same counterparty. It is our policy to classify derivative assets and liabilities on a gross basis on our balance sheets, even if the contracts are subject to enforceable master netting arrangements.

The following table summarizes our commodity derivative contracts as of March 31, 2016, none of which are classified as hedging instruments in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board Codification (“FASC”) Derivatives and Hedging topic:

Months	Index Price	Volume (Barrels per day)	Contract Prices ($/Bbl)
			Range (1)				Weighted Average Price
							Swap		Sold Put		Floor		Ceiling
Oil Contracts:
2016 Enhanced Swaps(2)
Apr – June	NYMEX	2,000	$	90.35	–	90.35	$	90.35	$	68.00	$	—	$	—
Apr – June	LLS	6,000		93.30	–	93.50	93.38		70.00		—		—
2016 Fixed-Price Swaps
Apr – June	NYMEX	11,500	$	60.30	–	63.75	$	61.84	$	—	$	—	$	—
Apr – June	LLS	3,500		64.20	–	66.15	64.99		—		—		—
July – Sept	NYMEX	16,500		36.25	–	40.65	38.24		—		—		—
July – Sept	LLS	7,000		37.24	–	42.15	39.61		—		—		—
Oct – Dec	NYMEX	23,000		36.25	–	40.00	37.97		—		—		—
Oct – Dec	LLS	7,000		37.24	–	41.00	39.16		—		—		—
2016 Three-Way Collars (3)
Apr – June	NYMEX	2,000	$	85.00	–	95.50	$	—	$	68.00	$	85.00	$	95.50
Apr – June	LLS	2,000		88.00	–	98.25	—		70.00		88.00		98.25
2016 Collars
Apr – June	NYMEX	5,000	$	55.00	–	72.25	$	—	$	—	$	55.00	$	71.01
Apr – June	LLS	2,000		58.00	–	73.00	—		—		58.00		73.00
July – Sept	NYMEX	4,500		55.00	–	72.65	—		—		55.00		71.22
July – Sept	LLS	3,000		58.00	–	74.30	—		—		58.00		73.85
2017 Fixed-Price Swaps
Jan – Mar	NYMEX	20,000	$	41.15	–	44.35	$	42.39	$	—	$	—	$	—
Jan – Mar	LLS	9,000		42.35	–	45.60	43.51		—		—		—

(1) Ranges presented for fixed-price swaps and enhanced swaps represent the lowest and highest fixed prices of all open contracts for the period presented. For collars and three-way collars, ranges represent the lowest floor price and highest ceiling price for all open contracts for the period presented.

(2) An enhanced swap is a fixed-price swap contract combined with a sold put feature (at a lower price) with the same counterparty. The value associated with the sold put is used to increase or enhance the fixed price of the swap. At the contract settlement date, (1) if the index price is higher than the swap price, we pay the counterparty the difference between the index price and swap price for the contracted volumes, (2) if the index price is lower than the swap price but at or above the sold put price, the counterparty pays us the difference between the index price and the swap price for the contracted volumes and (3) if the index price is lower than the sold put price, the counterparty pays us the difference between the swap price and the sold put price for the contracted volumes.

(3) A three-way collar is a costless collar contract combined with a sold put feature (at a lower price) with the same counterparty. The value received for the sold put is used to enhance the contracted floor and ceiling price of the related collar. At the contract settlement date, (1) if the index price is higher than the ceiling price, we pay the counterparty the difference between the index price and ceiling price for the contracted volumes, (2) if the index price is between the floor and ceiling price, no settlements occur, (3) if the index price is lower than the floor price but at or above the sold put price, the counterparty pays us the difference between the index price and the floor price for the contracted volumes and (4) if the index price is lower than the sold put price, the counterparty pays us the difference between the floor price and the sold put price for the contracted volumes.