Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Derivative Financial Instruments

v2.4.0.8
Derivative Financial Instruments
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Derivative Financial Instruments

6. Derivative Financial Instruments

Our market risk exposure relates primarily to commodity prices and interest rates. From time to time, we use various derivative instruments to manage our exposure to commodity price risk from sales of our oil and natural gas and interest rate risk from floating interest rates on our revolving bank credit facility. All of the derivative counterparties are also lenders or affiliates of lenders participating in our revolving bank credit facility. We are exposed to credit loss in the event of nonperformance by the derivative counterparties; however, we currently anticipate that each of our derivative counterparties will be able to fulfill their contractual obligations. Additional collateral is not required by us due to the derivative counterparties’ collateral rights as lenders and we do not require collateral from our derivative counterparties.

In accordance with GAAP, we record each derivative contract on the balance sheet as an asset or a liability at its fair value. For additional information about fair value measurements, refer to Note 7. We have elected not to designate our commodity derivative contracts as hedging instruments; therefore, all changes in the fair value of derivative contracts are recognized currently in earnings.  The cash flows of all of our commodity derivative contracts are included in Net cash provided by operating activities on the statement of cash flows.

For information about fair value measurements, refer to Note 8.

Commodity Derivatives

We have entered into commodity swap contracts to manage a portion of our exposure to commodity price risk from sales of oil through December 2014. While these contracts are intended to reduce the effects of price volatility, they may also limit future income from favorable price movements. During the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, our derivative contracts consisted entirely of crude oil swap contracts. The crude oil swap contracts are comprised of a portion based on Brent crude oil prices, a portion based on West Texas Intermediate (“WTI”) crude oil prices and a portion based on Light Louisiana Sweet (“LLS”) crude oil prices. The Brent based swap contracts are priced off the Brent crude oil price quoted on the IntercontinentalExchange, known as ICE. The WTI based swap contracts are priced off the New York Mercantile Exchange, known as NYMEX. The LLS based swap contracts are priced from data provided by Argus, an independent media organization. Although our Gulf of Mexico crude oil is based off the WTI crude oil price plus a premium, the realized prices received for our Gulf of Mexico crude oil, up until October 2013, have been closer to the Brent crude oil price because of competition with foreign supplied crude oil, which is based off the Brent crude oil price. Therefore, a portion of the swap oil contracts are priced off the Brent crude oil price to mitigate a portion of the price risk associated with our Gulf of Mexico crude oil production.

As of December 31, 2013, our open commodity derivative contracts were as follows:

 

 

  

Swaps – Oil

 

 

  

Priced off Brent
(ICE)

 

  

Priced off WTI
(NYMEX)

 

  

Priced off LLS
(ARGUS)

 

Termination Period

  

Notional
Quantity
(Bbls)

 

  

Weighted
Average
Contract
Price

 

  

Notional
Quantity
(Bbls)

 

  

Weighted
Average
Contract
Price

 

  

Notional
Quantity
(Bbls)

 

  

Weighted
Average
Contract
Price

 

2014:

  

1st Qtr

  

 

180,000

  

  

$

97.38

  

  

 

762,000

  

  

$

97.39

  

  

 

180,000

  

  

$

98.20

  

 

  

2nd Qtr

  

 

172,900

  

  

 

97.38

  

  

 

455,000

  

  

 

97.17

  

  

 

364,000

  

  

 

97.88

  

 

  

3rd Qtr

  

 

165,600

  

  

 

97.38

  

  

 

155,000

  

  

 

97.00

  

  

 

552,000

  

  

 

97.65

  

 

  

4th Qtr

  

 

156,400

  

  

 

97.37

  

  

 

—

  

  

 

—

  

  

 

368,000

  

  

 

97.88

  

 

  

 

  

 

674,900

  

  

$

97.38

  

  

 

1,372,000

  

  

$

97.27

  

  

 

1,464,000

  

  

$

97.83

  

The following balance sheet line items included amounts related to the estimated fair value of our open derivative contracts as indicated in the following table (in thousands):

 

 

  

December 31,

 

 

  

2013

 

  

2012

 

Prepaid and other assets

  

$

141

  

  

$

—

  

Accrued liabilities

  

 

9,423

  

  

 

6,355

  

Other liabilities (noncurrent)

  

 

—

  

  

 

3,046

  

Changes in the fair value of our commodity derivative contracts are recognized currently in earnings and were as follows (in thousands):

 

 

  

Year Ended December 31,

 

Derivative (gain) loss:

  

2013

 

  

2012

 

  

2011

 

Realized

  

$

8,589

  

  

$

7,665

  

  

$

9,873

  

Unrealized

  

 

(119

)  

  

 

6,289

  

  

 

(11,769

) 

Total

  

$

8,470

  

  

$

13,954

  

  

$

(1,896

) 

Offsetting Commodity Derivatives

As of December 31, 2013 and 2012, all of our derivative agreements allowed for netting of derivative gains and losses upon settlement. In general, the terms of the agreements provide for offsetting of amounts payable or receivable between us and the counterparty, at the election of both parties, for transactions that occur on the same date and in the same currency. If an event of default were to occur causing an acceleration of payment under our revolving bank credit facility, that event may also trigger an acceleration of settlement of our derivative instruments. If we were required to settle all of our open derivative instruments, we would be able to net payments and receipts per counterparty pursuant to the derivative agreements. Although our derivative agreements allow for netting, which would allow for recording assets and liabilities per counterparty on a net basis, we account for our derivative contracts on a gross basis per contract as either an asset or liability.

The following table provides a reconciliation of the gross assets and liabilities reflected in the balance sheet and the potential effects of master netting agreements on the fair value of open derivative contracts as of December 31, 2013 (in thousands):

 

 

  

Derivative
Assets

 

 

Derivative
Liabilities

 

Gross amounts presented in the balance sheet

  

$

141

  

 

$

9,423

  

Amounts not offset in the balance sheet

  

 

(141

) 

 

 

(141

) 

Net amounts

  

$

—

  

 

$

9,282

  

There were no potential effects of master netting agreements on the fair value of open derivative contracts as of December 31, 2012 due to all open derivative contracts being valued as liabilities.