Employee and Retiree Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Employee and Retiree Benefit Plans

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.

On May 6, 2020, the Company announced that it was closing its headquarter office in El Dorado, Arkansas, its office in Calgary, Alberta, and consolidating all worldwide staff activities to its existing office location in Houston, Texas. As a result of this decision and the subsequent restructuring activities, a pension remeasurement was triggered and the Company incurred pension curtailment and special termination benefit charges as a result of the associated reduction of force. The Company elected the use of a practical expedient to perform the pension remeasurement as of May 31, 2020, which resulted in an increase in our pension and other postretirement benefit liabilities of $63.0 million due to a lower discount rate and lower plan assets compared to December 31, 2019.

The table that follows provides the components of net periodic benefit expense for the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2020 and 2019.

	Three Months Ended September 30,
	Pension Benefits			Other Postretirement Benefits
(Thousands of dollars)	2020		2019	2020	2019
Service cost	$	1,664	2,064	342	421
Interest cost	4,827		7,151	612	945
Expected return on plan assets	(5,773)		(6,455)	—	—
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)	149		248	—	(98)
Recognized actuarial loss	5,690		3,516	(24)	—
Net periodic benefit expense	$	6,557	6,524	930	1,268
	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	Pension Benefits			Other Postretirement Benefits
(Thousands of dollars)	2020		2019	2020	2019
Service cost	$	5,996	6,188	1,235	1,261
Interest cost	16,381		21,402	2,200	2,833
Expected return on plan assets	(18,414)		(19,285)	—	—
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)	515		741	—	(293)
Recognized actuarial loss	14,223		10,538	(24)	—
Net periodic benefit expense	18,701		19,584	3,411	3,801
Other - curtailment	586		—	(1,825)	—
Other - special termination benefits	8,435		—	—	—
Total net periodic benefit expense	$	27,722	19,584	1,586	3,801

The components of net periodic benefit expense, other than the service cost, curtailment and special termination benefits components, are included in the line item “Interest and other income (loss)” in Consolidated Statements of Operations. The curtailment and special termination benefits components are included in the line item “Restructuring expenses” in Consolidated Statement of Operations.

During the nine-month period ended September 30, 2020, the Company made contributions of $27.4 million to its defined benefit pension and postretirement benefit plans.  Remaining funding in 2020 for the Company’s defined benefit pension and postretirement plans is anticipated to be $10.3 million.