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Fair Value of Financial Instruments
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS 
FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
NOTE 6 — FAIR VALUE OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The Partnership has established a hierarchy to measure its financial instruments at fair value which requires it to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. The hierarchy defines three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:
Level 1— Quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities that the reporting entity has the ability to access at the measurement date.
Level 2— Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset and liability or can be corroborated with observable market data for substantially the entire contractual term of the asset or liability.
Level 3— Unobservable inputs that reflect the entities own assumptions about the assumptions that market participants would use in the pricing of the asset or liability and are consequently not based on market activity, but rather through particular valuation techniques.
Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis
The Partnership used a fair value methodology to value the assets and liabilities for its outstanding derivative contracts (see Note 4). The Partnership's commodity derivative contracts were valued based on observable market data related to the change in price of the underlying commodity and are therefore defined as Level 2 fair value measurements.
Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Non-Recurring Basis
The Partnership estimates the fair value of asset retirement obligations using Level 3 inputs based on discounted cash flow projections using numerous estimates, assumptions and judgments regarding such factors at the date of establishment of an asset retirement obligation such as: amounts and timing of settlements; the credit-adjusted risk-free rate of the Partnership; and estimated inflation rates (see Note 3).