Property, Plant And Equipment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Property, Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

5. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment consisted of the following:


	September 30,			December 31,
	2011			2010
	(In thousands)
Oil and gas properties
Subject to depletion	$	5,049,640		$	4,805,161
Unevaluated costs		460,158			304,269
Accumulated depletion		(2,440,846	)		(2,274,785	)

Net oil and gas properties		3,068,952			2,834,645
Other plant and equipment
Pipelines and processing facilities		355,201			235,676
General properties		73,530			70,267
Accumulated depreciation		(120,878	)		(72,743	)

Net other plant and equipment		307,853			233,200

Property, plant and equipment, net of accumulated depletion and depreciation	$	3,376,805		$	3,067,845

Ceiling Test Analysis

We recorded impairment expense of $49.1 million for our Canadian oil and gas properties at March 31, 2011. We computed the March 31, 2011 ceiling amount using an AECO price of $3.59 Mcf of natural gas, calculated as the unweighted average of the preceding 12-month first-day-of-the-month prices. The AECO natural gas price used to compute the ceiling amount at March 31, 2011 was 12% lower than the AECO price used in computing the ceiling amount at December 31, 2010. Our Canadian ceiling tests prepared at June 30 and September 30, 2011 resulted in no additional impairment of our Canadian oil and gas properties. Our U.S. ceiling tests prepared for each quarter of 2011 resulted in no impairment of our U.S. oil and gas properties.

Notes 2 and 8 to the consolidated financial statements in our 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K contain additional information regarding our property, plant and equipment and our quarterly ceiling test analysis.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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