Note 4 Assets Held for Sale and Discontinued Operations

Assets Held for Sale

Assets held for sale as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 was $12.3 million and $37.1 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2017, these assets consisted primarily of our oil and gas holdings which were mainly in the Horn River basin in western Canada of $25.9 million and the operating results were reflected in discontinued operations. During November 2018, we sold our remaining wholly owned oil and gas business in Canada for approximately $8.0 million. As part of the agreement, we have agreed to keep $2.4 million of the pipeline commitment which ends in May 2019. The remainder, including the entire balance as of December 31, 2018, represents assets that meet the criteria to be classified as assets held for sale, but do not represent a disposal of a component of an entity or a group of components of an entity representing a strategic shift that has or will have a major effect on the entity's operations and financial results.

The carrying value of our assets held for sale represents the lower of carrying value or fair value less costs to sell. We continue to market these properties at prices that are reasonable compared to current fair value.

We have contracts with pipeline companies to pay specified fees based on committed volumes for gas transport and processing associated with these properties held for sale. At December 31, 2018, our undiscounted contractual commitments for these contracts approximated $2.4 million, all of which were classified as current and are included in accrued liabilities. At December 31, 2017, our undiscounted contractual commitments for these contracts approximated $11.2 million, and we had total liabilities of $8.5 million, $6.1 million of which were classified as current and are included in accrued liabilities.

The amounts at each balance sheet date represented our best estimate of the fair value of the excess capacity of the pipeline commitments calculated using a discounted cash flow model, when considering our disposal plan, current production levels, natural gas prices and expected utilization of the pipeline over the remaining contractual term. Decreases in actual production or natural gas prices could result in future charges related to excess pipeline commitments.

Discontinued Operations

The operating results from the assets discussed above for all periods presented are presented and accounted for as discontinued operations in the accompanying consolidated statements of income (loss) and the respective accompanying notes to the consolidated financial statements. Our condensed statements of income (loss) from discontinued operations for each reportable segment were as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017		2016
	(In thousands)

Operating revenues (1)	$	4,078	$	6,169	$	2,859
Income (loss) from Oil & Gas discontinued operations:
Income (loss) from discontinued operations	$	(2,766)	$	(2,506)	$	(3,978)
Less: Impairment charges or other (gains) and losses on sale of wholly owned assets (2)	$	17,199	$	51,028	$	19,445
Less: Income tax expense (benefit)	$	(5,302)	$	(10,015)	$	(5,060)
Income (loss) from Oil and Gas discontinued operations, net of tax	$	(14,663)	$	(43,519)	$	(18,363)

(1)

Reflects operating revenues of our historical oil and gas reportable segment.

(2)

Includes impairment charges of $17.0 million, $35.3 million and $15.4 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, due to the deterioration of economic conditions in the natural gas market in western Canada, partially offset by a gain related to our restructure of our future pipeline obligations. Additionally, this line item includes a charge of $16.5 million related to the settlement of litigation during 2017 associated with our previously owned Ramshorn International properties.

Additional discussion of our policy pertaining to the calculations of our annual impairment tests, including any impairment to goodwill, is set forth in Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies. A further protraction of lower commodity prices or an inability to sell these assets in a timely manner could result in recognition of future impairment charges.