Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Stockholders' Equity

Note L – Stockholders’ Equity

On October 16, 2012, the Company announced a special dividend of $2.50 per outstanding Common share. The special dividend was paid on December 3, 2012, to shareholders of record on November 16, 2012, and totaled $486,141,000. The Company also announced authorization of a share buyback program of up to $1.0 billion. The share repurchases could be carried out by utilization of a number of different methods, including but not limited to, open market purchases, accelerated share repurchases and negotiated block purchases, and some of the repurchases may be effected through Rule 10b5-1 plans. On December 10, 2012, Murphy entered into a variable term, capped accelerated share repurchase (ASR) transaction with a major financial institution to repurchase an aggregate of $250,000,000 of the Company’s Common stock. The total aggregate number of shares to be repurchased pursuant to this agreement will be determined by reference to the Rule 10b-18 volume-weighted price of the Company’s Common stock, less a fixed discount, over the term of the agreement, subject to a minimum number of shares. The share repurchase agreement is expected to be completed no later than approximately five months after execution. Under the ASR program, Murphy received the minimum 3,867,550 shares of Common stock during the fourth quarter 2012. These shares were held in Treasury Stock at December 31, 2012. Any remaining shares will be delivered to the Company upon the completion of the ASR program. For accounting purposes, the ASR program is considered a treasury stock purchase and a forward contract indexed to Murphy’s Common shares for the future settlement provision. The forward contracts are accounted for as equity instruments.