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, fixed-price swaps enhanced with a sold put, and basis swaps. 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, 2018, 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, 2018, none of which are classified as hedging instruments in accordance with the FASC Derivatives and Hedging topic:



Months	Index Price	Volume (Barrels per day)	Contract Prices ($/Bbl)
			Range⁽¹⁾				Weighted Average Price
			Range⁽¹⁾				Swap		Sold Put		Floor		Ceiling
Oil Contracts:
2018 Basis Swaps⁽²⁾
Apr – June	Argus LLS	20,000	$	3.13	–	4.63	$	4.17	$	—	$	—	$	—
2018 Fixed-Price Swaps
Apr – Dec	NYMEX	20,500	$	50.00	–	56.65	$	51.69	$	—	$	—	$	—
Apr – Dec	Argus LLS	5,000		60.10	–	60.25	60.18		—		—		—
2018 Three-Way Collars⁽³⁾
Apr – Dec	NYMEX	15,000	$	45.00	–	56.60	$	—	$	36.50	$	46.50	$	53.88
2019 Fixed-Price Swaps
Jan – June	NYMEX	3,500	$	59.00	–	59.10	$	59.05	$	—	$	—	$	—
2019 Three-Way Collars⁽³⁾
Jan – June	NYMEX	6,500	$	55.00	–	66.20	$	—	$	47.00	$	55.00	$	65.54
July – Dec	NYMEX	10,000		55.00	–	65.60	—		47.00		55.00		65.37


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


(2)	The basis swap contracts establish a fixed amount for the differential between Argus WTI and Argus LLS prices on a trade-month basis for the period indicated.

(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.