Note 8 - Discontinued Operations

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations, Disclosure [Text Block]

(8)           DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

As a result of the sales of our Gulf Coast oil and gas properties and the abandonment of our coalbed methane projects during 2011, all related activities are included as discontinued operations on the consolidated condensed balance sheets and consolidated condensed statements of operations for all periods presented.

The carrying amounts of the major classes of assets and liabilities for our discontinued oil and gas operations are summarized below (in thousands):

	March 31, 2013		December 31, 2012
Current Liabilities:
Trade payables	$	3	$	3
Revenues and royalties payable		18		17
Accrued liabilities and other		61		227
Total Current Liabilities		82		247
Total Liabilities of Discontinued Operations	$	82	$	247

Our Accrued Liabilities and Other at March 31, 2013 include $61 thousand in legal fees related to the XPLOR Energy litigation (see Note 13 – “Contingencies”).

Cash used by discontinued operations during the three months ended March 31, 2013 is mainly related to legal costs resulting from the sale of the oil and gas properties.  Upon resolution of the XPLOR Energy litigation and regulatory matters, no significant activities are expected related to these discontinued operations.

The revenues and net income before income tax associated with our discontinued oil and gas operations are as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2013			2012
Revenues and other:
Oil and gas operations	$	-		$	-
Oil and gas processing and handling income		-			-
Total revenues from discontinued operations	$	-		$	-
Loss from discontinued operations before taxes	$	(110	)	$	(177	)

We recognized a loss on the 2011 disposal of our Gulf Coast oil and gas properties of $82 thousand during the three months ended March 31, 2012, as a result of increases in actual retained plugging and abandonment costs over estimates at December 31, 2011. No additional losses were recognized on this disposal in the first three months of 2013.