Murphy utilizes cash-based and/or share-based incentive awards to supplement normal salaries as compensation for executive management and certain employees. For share-based awards that qualify for equity accounting, costs are recognized as an expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations using a grant date fair value-based measurement method over the periods that the awards vest. For share-based awards that are required to be accounted for under liability accounting rules, costs are recognized as expense using a fair value-based measurement method over the vesting period, but expense is adjusted as necessary through the date the award value is finally determined. Total expense for liability awards is ultimately adjusted to the final intrinsic value for the award.

At the Company’s annual stockholders’ meeting held on May 13, 2020, shareholders approved replacement of the 2018 Long-Term Incentive Plan (2018 Long-Term Plan) with the 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan (2020 Long-Term Plan). The 2020 Long-Term Plan authorizes the Committee to make grants of the Company’s Common Stock to employees in the same form as the 2018 Long-Term Plan. The new plan can be found in the Company’s Definitive Proxy statement (Definitive 14A) dated March 30, 2020. All awards on or after May 13, 2020 will be made under the 2020 Long-Term Plan.

The Company currently has outstanding incentive awards issued to certain employees under the 2017 Annual Incentive Plan, the 2012 Long-Term Plan and the 2018 Long-Term Plan. The 2017 Annual Incentive Plan authorizes the Executive Compensation Committee (the Committee) to establish specific performance goals associated with annual cash awards that may be earned by officers, executives and certain other employees. Cash awards under the 2017 Annual Incentive Plan are determined based on the Company’s actual financial and operating results as measured against the performance goals established by the Committee.

The 2020 Long-Term Plan, the 2018 Long-Term Plan and the 2012 Long-term Plan authorizes the Committee to make grants of the Company’s Common Stock to employees. These grants may be in the form of stock options (nonqualified or incentive), stock appreciation rights (SAR), restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance units, performance shares, dividend equivalents and other stock-based incentives. The 2020 Long-Term Plan expires in 2030. A total of 5 million and 6.75 million shares are issuable during the life of the 2020 Long-Term Plan and the 2018 Long-Term Plan. There have been no awards granted from the 2020 Long Term Plan to date. In 2018, the Company’s shareholders approved the 2018 Stock Plan for Non-Employee Directors (2018 NED Plan) that permits the issuance of restricted stock, restricted stock units and stock options or a combination thereof to the Company’s Non-Employee Directors. The company currently has outstanding incentive awards issued to directors under the 2013 NED Plan and the 2018 NED Plan.

As of December 31, 2020, there were $42.6 million in compensation costs to be expensed over approximately the next five years related to unvested share-based compensation arrangements granted by the Company. Employees receive net shares, after applicable withholding obligations, upon each stock option exercise and restricted stock award. Total income tax benefits realized from tax deductions related to stock option exercises under share-based payment arrangements were immaterial for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

Previously, the Committee fixed the option price of each option granted at no less than fair market value (FMV) on the date of the grant and fixed the option term at no more than seven years from such date. Each option granted to date under the 2012 Long-Term Plan has been nonqualified, with a term of seven years and an option price equal to FMV at date of grant. Under these plans, one-half of each grant is generally exercisable after two years and the remainder after three years. For stock options, the number of shares issued upon exercise is reduced for settlement of applicable statutory income tax withholdings owed by the grantee.

The fair value of each option award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes pricing model based on the assumptions noted in the following table. Expected volatility is based on historical volatility of the Company’s stock and implied volatility on publicly traded at-the-money options on the Company’s stock. The Company estimates the expected term of the options granted based on historical option exercise patterns and considers certain groups of employees exhibiting different behavior. The risk-free interest rate for periods within the expected term of the option is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant.


	Number of Shares	Average Exercise Price
Outstanding at December 31, 2017	4,901,269	$	45.74

Exercised	(72,000)	17.57
Forfeited	(834,674)	53.36
Outstanding at December 31, 2018	3,994,595	44.66

Exercised	(57,500)	17.57
Forfeited	(1,016,685)	48.29
Outstanding at December 31, 2019	2,920,410	43.93

Exercised	(47,000)	17.57
Forfeited	(825,010)	54.85
Outstanding at December 31, 2020	2,048,400	40.14
Exercisable at December 31, 2017	3,197,269	$	54.22
Exercisable at December 31, 2018	3,182,345	49.10
Exercisable at December 31, 2019	2,694,410	43.51
Exercisable at December 31, 2020	2,048,400	37.88


	Options Outstanding				Options Exercisable
Range of Exercise Prices per Option	No. of Options	Avg. Life Remaining in Years	Aggregate Intrinsic Value		No. of Options	Avg. Life Remaining in Years	Aggregate Intrinsic Value
$17.00 to $30.99	984,500	2.5	$	—	984,500	2.5	$	—
$31.00 to $50.99	655,000	1.1	—		655,000	1.1	—
$51.00 to $65.00	408,900	0.1	—		408,900	0.1	—
	2,048,400	1.6	$	—	2,048,400	1.6	$	—

The total intrinsic value of options exercised during 2020 was $0.5 million. Intrinsic value is the excess of the market price of stock at date of exercise over the exercise price received by the Company upon exercise. Aggregate intrinsic value is nil when the exercise price of the stock option exceeds the market price of the Company’s common stock.

PERFORMANCE-BASED RESTRICTED STOCK UNITS – Performance-based restricted stock units (PSUs) to be settled in Common shares were granted in 2020 and 2019 under the 2018 Long-Term Plan and 2018 under the 2012 Long-Term Plan. Each grant will vest if the Company achieves specific performance objectives at the end of the designated performance period. Additional shares may be awarded if performance objectives are exceeded. If performance goals are not met, PSUs will not vest, but recognized compensation cost associated with the stock award would not be reversed. For PSUs, the performance conditions are based on the Company’s total shareholder return (80% weighting) and the EBITDA divided by Average Capital Employed (ACE) metric (20% weighting) for PSU awards beginning in 2020, over the performance period compared to an industry peer group of companies. During the performance period, PSUs are subject to transfer restrictions and are subject to forfeiture if a grantee terminates for reasons other than retirement, disability or death. Termination for these three reasons will lead to a pro rata award of amounts earned. No dividends are paid nor do voting rights exist on awards of PSUs prior to their settlement.


(Number of stock units)	2020	2019	2018
Outstanding at beginning of year	2,129,733	1,660,417	1,187,921
Granted	999,700	957,600	905,500
Vested and issued	(429,194)	(331,917)	(311,866)
Forfeited	(492,810)	(156,367)	(121,138)
Outstanding at end of year	2,207,429	2,129,733	1,660,417

The fair value of the equity-settled performance-based awards granted in each year was estimated on the date of grant using a Monte Carlo valuation model. Expected volatility was based on daily historical volatility of the Company’s stock price compared to a peer group average over a three-year period. The risk-free interest rate is based on the yield curve of three-year U.S. Treasury bonds and the stock beta was calculated using three years of historical averages of daily stock data for Murphy and the peer group. The assumptions used in the valuation of the performance awards granted in 2020, 2019 and 2018 are presented in the following table.


	2020	2019	2018
Fair value per share at grant date	21.51	$28.09	$22.99 - $30.56
Assumptions
Expected volatility	39.00%	46.00%	48.00%
Risk-free interest rate	1.40%	2.50%	2.30%
Stock beta	0.864	1.037	1.103
Expected life	3.0 years	3.0 years	3.0 years

TIME-BASED RESTRICTED STOCK UNITS – Time-based restricted stock units (RSUs) have been granted to the Company’s Non-Employee Directors (NED) under the 2013 NED Plan and 2018 NED Plan and to certain employees under the 2012 Long-Term Plan and 2018 Long-Term Plan. The RSUs granted under the 2012 Long-Term Plan, the 2013 NED Plan and the 2018 Long-Term Plan vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant. Under the 2018 NED Plan, the RSUs granted in 2019 vest on the third anniversary of the date of grant and the RSUs granted in 2020 vest on the first anniversary of the date of grant. The fair value of these awards was estimated based on the market value of the Company’s stock on the date of grant, which were $22.59 to $21.68 per share in 2020, $21.68 to $28.16 per share in 2019, and $25.69 to $28.43 per share in 2018.


(Number of share units)	2020	2019	2018
Outstanding at beginning of year	1,535,080	1,538,854	1,035,980
Granted	446,848	409,692	823,803
Vested and issued	(271,285)	(275,738)	(233,456)
Forfeited	(327,600)	(137,728)	(87,473)
Outstanding at end of year	1,383,043	1,535,080	1,538,854

The Company has granted stock-based incentive awards to be settled in cash to certain employees in the form of Stock Appreciation Rights (SARs), Performance-based restricted stock units (CPSUs), Time-based restricted stock units (CRSUs) and Phantom units.

SAR awards have terms similar to stock options. CPSU terms are similar to other performance-based restricted stock awards (PSUs). CRSUs generally settle on the third anniversary of the date of grant. Phantom units generally settle three to five years from date of grant. Each award granted is settled, net of applicable income tax withholdings, in cash rather than with Common shares. Total expense recorded in the Consolidated Statements of Operations for all cash-settled stock-based awards was $1.5 million in 2020, $16.9 million in 2019 and $6.5 million in 2018.

The Committee also administers the Company’s incentive compensation plans, which provide for annual or periodic cash awards to officers, directors and certain other employees. These cash awards are generally determinable based on the Company achieving specific financial and/or operational objectives. Compensation expense of $9.8 million, $34.1 million and $30.0 million was recorded in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, for these plans.