Property, Plant and Equipment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Note D – Property, Plant, and Equipment

Exploratory Wells

Under FASB guidance exploratory well costs should continue to be capitalized when the well has found a sufficient quantity of reserves to justify its completion as a producing well and the Company is making sufficient progress assessing the reserves and the economic and operating viability of the project.

At September 30, 2020, the Company had total capitalized exploratory well costs for continuing operations pending the determination of proved reserves of $187.9 million. The following table reflects the net changes in capitalized exploratory well costs during the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020 and 2019.


(Thousands of dollars)	2020		2019
Beginning balance at January 1	$	217,326	207,855
Additions pending the determination of proved reserves	9,941		86,025

Capitalized exploratory well costs charged to expense	(39,408)		(13,145)
Balance at September 30	$	187,859	280,735

The capitalized well costs charged to expense during 2020 represent a charge for asset impairments (see below). The capitalized well costs charged to expense during 2019 included the CM-1X and the CT-1X wells in Vietnam Block 11-2/11. The wells were originally drilled in 2017.

The following table provides an aging of capitalized exploratory well costs based on the date the drilling was completed for each individual well and the number of projects for which exploratory well costs have been capitalized. The projects are aged based on the last well drilled in the project.


	September 30,
	2020				2019

(Thousands of dollars)	Amount		No. of Wells	No. of Projects	Amount	No. of Wells	No. of Projects
Aging of capitalized well costs:
Zero to one year	$	8,000	1	—	64,711	5	5
One to two years	54,334		5	5	63,615	1	1
Two to three years	—		—	—	27,500	1	—
Three years or more	125,525		6	—	124,909	5	—
	$	187,859	12	5	280,735	12	6

Of the $179.9 million of exploratory well costs capitalized more than one year at September 30, 2020, $88.2 million is in Vietnam, $46.0 million is in the U.S., $25.3 million is in Brunei, $15.6 million is in Mexico, and $4.8 million is in Canada. In all geographical areas, either further appraisal or development drilling is planned and/or development studies/plans are in various stages of completion.

Impairments

In 2020, declines in future oil and natural gas prices (principally driven by reduced demand in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and increased supply in the first quarter of 2020 from foreign oil producers and - see Risk Factors on page 38) led to impairments in certain of the Company’s U.S. Offshore and Other Foreign properties. The Company recorded pretax noncash impairment charges of $1,206.3 million to reduce the carrying values to their estimated fair values at select properties.

The fair values were determined by internal discounted cash flow models using estimates of future production, prices, costs and discount rates believed to be consistent with those used by principal market participants in the applicable region.

The following table reflects the recognized impairments for the nine months ended September 30, 2020.


	Nine Months Ended
(Thousands of dollars)	September 30, 2020
U.S.	$	1,152,515

Other Foreign	39,709
Corporate	14,060
	$	1,206,284

Divestments

In July 2019, the Company completed a divestiture of its two subsidiaries conducting Malaysian operations, Murphy Sabah Oil Co., Ltd. and Murphy Sarawak Oil Co., Ltd., in a transaction with PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) which was effective January 1, 2019. Total cash consideration received upon closing was $2.0 billion. A gain on sale of $960.0 million was recorded as part of discontinued operations on the Consolidated Statement of Operations during 2019. The Company does not anticipate tax liabilities related to the sales proceeds. Murphy was entitled to receive a $100.0 million bonus payment contingent upon certain future exploratory drilling results prior to October 2020, however the results were not achieved by PTTEP.