Angolan Impairments	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Asset Impairment Charges [Abstract]
Angolan Impairments	NOTE 3. ANGOLAN IMPAIRMENTS In August 2015, we executed the Agreement with Sonangol for the sale by us to Sonangol of the entire issued and outstanding share capital of Cobalt Angola’s indirect wholly–owned subsidiaries, CIE Angola Block 20 Ltd. and CIE Angola Block 21 Ltd., which respectively hold our 40% working interest in each of Block 20 and Block 21 offshore Angola. The requisite Angolan government approvals were not received within one year from the execution date and the Agreement terminated by its terms in August 2016. Since then, we have been working with Sonangol to understand and agree on the financial and operational implications of the termination of the Agreement. As part of these discussions, we have requested that Sonangol extend certain deadlines for exploration and development milestones under the agreements governing Blocks 20 and 21. Under the Agreement, we are entitled to be put back in our original position as if no agreement had been concluded, which we believe requires Sonangol to extend all such deadlines by, at a minimum, the one year period the Agreement was pending plus the period of time from the termination of the Agreement until this matter is resolved. No extensions have been granted to date. Over six months have passed since the termination of the Agreement, and there can be no assurance that such extensions will be forthcoming, on favorable terms or at all. We reserve the right to and will vigorously enforce the provisions of the Agreement and our rights under international law if Sonangol does not grant the extensions we believe we are entitled to under the Agreement. The dispute resolution procedures of the Agreement require that any dispute be finally resolved under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, with proceedings seated in London, England. In addition, prior to commencing arbitration proceedings, a party must provide the other party with a Notice of Dispute describing the nature of the dispute and the relief requested. Given Sonangol’s delays and failure to date to grant the extensions, we submitted such a Notice of Dispute on March 8, 2017 to Sonangol under the Agreement. If Sonangol does not timely resolve this matter to our satisfaction, we intend to move forward with arbitration and at that time we will seek all available remedies at law or in equity. Further, our Angolan assets are indirectly held by a German subsidiary, and we therefore believe we are entitled to certain protections provided under international law under the bilateral investment treaty between Germany and Angola, dated October 30, 2003, including its substantive and procedural protections to investments of German investors. In 2016, we recorded $1,629.8 million of dry hole costs and impairments to write off capitalized well costs and the underlying leases associated with our Angolan operations in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 932, Extractive Activities – Oil and Gas, which requires, among other things, that “sufficient progress” be made with respect to oil and natural gas projects in order to avoid the requirement to expense previously capitalized exploratory or appraisal well costs. Given Sonangol’s delays and failure to date to grant the extensions as well as the general investment climate in the Angolan oil and natural gas industry, the procedures of ASC 932 require us to record a full impairment of our Angolan assets at this time. The impairment is not associated with, nor is it indicative of, what we believe to be the intrinsic or fair market value of our Angolan assets. In addition, we also recorded $62.0 million of impairment charges related to inventory and other property in Angola. Although we plan to continue to fulfill our obligations as operator, we do not plan to make any material additional investments in Angola until the financial and operational implications of the termination of the Agreement are resolved to our satisfaction. In addition, we are currently holding the $250.0 million initial payment that Sonangol made to us under the Agreement and do not plan to return any part of it until this matter, and the related matter concerning the payment of the joint interest receivable owed to us by Sonangol under the Block 21 Risk Services Agreement, is resolved.

NOTE 3. ANGOLAN IMPAIRMENTS

In August 2015, we executed the Agreement with Sonangol for the sale by us to Sonangol of the entire issued and outstanding share capital of Cobalt Angola’s indirect wholly–owned subsidiaries, CIE Angola Block 20 Ltd. and CIE Angola Block 21 Ltd., which respectively hold our 40% working interest in each of Block 20 and Block 21 offshore Angola. The requisite Angolan government approvals were not received within one year from the execution date and the Agreement terminated by its terms in August 2016. Since then, we have been working with Sonangol to understand and agree on the financial and operational implications of the termination of the Agreement. As part of these discussions, we have requested that Sonangol extend certain deadlines for exploration and development milestones under the agreements governing Blocks 20 and 21. Under the Agreement, we are entitled to be put back in our original position as if no agreement had been concluded, which we believe requires Sonangol to extend all such deadlines by, at a minimum, the one year period the Agreement was pending plus the period of time from the termination of the Agreement until this matter is resolved.

No extensions have been granted to date. Over six months have passed since the termination of the Agreement, and there can be no assurance that such extensions will be forthcoming, on favorable terms or at all. We reserve the right to and will vigorously enforce the provisions of the Agreement and our rights under international law if Sonangol does not grant the extensions we believe we are entitled to under the Agreement. The dispute resolution procedures of the Agreement require that any dispute be finally resolved under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, with proceedings seated in London, England. In addition, prior to commencing arbitration proceedings, a party must provide the other party with a Notice of Dispute describing the nature of the dispute and the relief requested. Given Sonangol’s delays and failure to date to grant the extensions, we submitted such a Notice of Dispute on March 8, 2017 to Sonangol under the Agreement. If Sonangol does not timely resolve this matter to our satisfaction, we intend to move forward with arbitration and at that time we will seek all available remedies at law or in equity. Further, our Angolan assets are indirectly held by a German subsidiary, and we therefore believe we are entitled to certain protections provided under international law under the bilateral investment treaty between Germany and Angola, dated October 30, 2003, including its substantive and procedural protections to investments of German investors.

In 2016, we recorded $1,629.8 million of dry hole costs and impairments to write off capitalized well costs and the underlying leases associated with our Angolan operations in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 932, Extractive Activities – Oil and Gas, which requires, among other things, that “sufficient progress” be made with respect to oil and natural gas projects in order to avoid the requirement to expense previously capitalized exploratory or appraisal well costs. Given Sonangol’s delays and failure to date to grant the extensions as well as the general investment climate in the Angolan oil and natural gas industry, the procedures of ASC 932 require us to record a full impairment of our Angolan assets at this time. The impairment is not associated with, nor is it indicative of, what we believe to be the intrinsic or fair market value of our Angolan assets. In addition, we also recorded $62.0 million of impairment charges related to inventory and other property in Angola.

Although we plan to continue to fulfill our obligations as operator, we do not plan to make any material additional investments in Angola until the financial and operational implications of the termination of the Agreement are resolved to our satisfaction. In addition, we are currently holding the $250.0 million initial payment that Sonangol made to us under the Agreement and do not plan to return any part of it until this matter, and the related matter concerning the payment of the joint interest receivable owed to us by Sonangol under the Block 21 Risk Services Agreement, is resolved.