Note H – Employee and Retiree Benefit Plans

The Company has defined benefit pension plans that are principally noncontributory and cover most full-time employees. All pension plans are funded except for the U.S. and Canadian nonqualified supplemental plan and the U.S. director’s plan. All U.S. tax qualified plans meet the funding requirements of federal laws and regulations. Contributions to foreign plans are based on local laws and tax regulations. The Company also sponsors health care and life insurance benefit plans, which are not funded, that cover most retired U.S. employees. The health care benefits are contributory; the life insurance benefits are noncontributory.

The table that follows provides the components of net periodic benefit expense for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2019 and 2018.



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	Pension Benefits			Other Postretirement Benefits
(Thousands of dollars)		2019	2018	2019		2018
Service cost	$	2,062	2,255		420		494
Interest cost		7,151	6,737		945		874
Expected return on plan assets		(6,460)	(7,506)		–		–
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)		247	257		(98)		(10)
Recognized actuarial loss		3,514	5,215		–		–
Net periodic benefit expense	$	6,514	6,958		1,267		1,358

The components of net periodic benefit expense other than the service cost component are included in the line item “Interest and other income (loss)” in Consolidated Statements of Operations.

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2019, the Company made contributions of $6.9 million to its defined benefit pension and postretirement benefit plans. Remaining funding in 2019 for the Company’s defined benefit pension and postretirement plans is anticipated to be $25.6 million.