(7) Guarantees

Pursuant to arranging operating lease financing for certain tank trailers, individual subsidiaries of the Company may guarantee the lessor a minimum residual equipment sales value upon the expiration of a lease and sale of the underlying equipment. The Company believes performance under these guarantees to be remote. Aggregate guaranteed residual values under operating leases as of December 31, 2012 are as follows (in thousands):

		2013				2014				2015				Thereafter				Total
Equipment residual values		$	216			$	-			$	-			$	-			$	216

In connection with certain contracts for the purchase and resale of branded motor fuels within the Company's discontinued refined products marketing business (See Note (9), the Company received certain price discounts from its suppliers toward the purchase of gasoline and diesel fuel. Such discounts were passed through to the Company's customers as an incentive to offset a portion of the costs associated with offering branded motor fuels for sale to the general public. Under the terms of the supply contracts, the Company and its customers are not obligated to return the price discounts, provided the gasoline service station offering such product for sale remains as a branded station for periods ranging from three to ten years. The Company had a number of customers and stations operating under such arrangements, and the former customers are contractually obligated to remain a branded dealer for the required periods of time. Should the customer seek to void such contracts, the Company would be obligated to return a portion of discounts received to its suppliers. As of December 31, 2012, the maximum potential obligation is approximately $1,385,000. Management of the Company believes such customers will adhere to their branding obligations and no such refunds will result. In addition, this branding obligation was assumed by the purchaser of the Company's refined products contracts.

Presently, neither Adams Resources & Energy, Inc. (‟ARE") nor any of its subsidiaries has any other types of guarantees outstanding that require liability recognition.

ARE frequently issues parent guarantees of commitments resulting from the ongoing activities of its subsidiary companies. The guarantees generally result from subsidiary commodity purchase obligations, subsidiary operating lease commitments and subsidiary banking transactions. The nature of such items is to guarantee the performance of the subsidiary companies in meeting their respective underlying obligations. Except for operating lease commitments and letters of credit, all such underlying obligations are recorded on the books of the subsidiary companies and are included in the consolidated financial statements included herein. Therefore, no such obligation is recorded again on the books of the parent. The parent would only be called upon to perform under the guarantee in the event of a payment default by the applicable subsidiary company. In satisfying such obligations, the parent would first look to the assets of the defaulting subsidiary company.

As of December 31, 2012, parental guaranteed obligations are approximately as follows (in thousands):

	2013		2014		2015		2016		Thereafter		Total
Lease payments	$	47	$	-	$	-		-		-		47
Equipment residual values		216		-		-		-		-		216
Commodity purchases		61,942		-		-		-		-		61,942
Letters of credit		21,996		-		-		-		-		21,996
	$	84,201	$	-	$	-	$	-	$	-	$	84,201