Commitments And Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]

Commitments And Contingencies

NOTE 15 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

We lease office space or yards in Elmwood, Elk City, Oklahoma City, Quinton and Tulsa, Oklahoma; Canadian and Houston, Texas; Denver and Englewood, Colorado; Pinedale, Wyoming; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under the terms of operating leases expiring through September, 2015. Additionally, we have several equipment leases and lease space on short-term commitments to stack excess drilling rig equipment and production inventory. Future minimum rental payments under the terms of the leases are approximately $6.2 million, $4.5 million, $1.9 million and $0.2 million in 2012-2015, respectively. Total rent expense incurred was $3.7 million, $1.8 million and $2.1 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

The Unit 1984 Oil and Gas Limited Partnership and the 1986 Energy Income Limited Partnership agreements along with the employee oil and gas limited partnerships require, on the election of a limited partner, that we repurchase the limited partner's interest at amounts to be determined by appraisal in the future. These repurchases in any one year are limited to 20% of the units outstanding. We made repurchases of $22,000 in 2011, $22,000 in 2010 and $1,000 in 2009.

We manage our exposure to environmental liabilities on properties to be acquired by identifying existing problems and assessing the potential liability. We also conduct periodic reviews, on a company-wide basis, to identify changes in our environmental risk profile. These reviews evaluate whether there is a probable liability, its amount, and the likelihood that the liability will be incurred. The amount of any potential liability is determined by considering, among other matters, incremental direct costs of any likely remediation and the proportionate cost of employees who are expected to devote a significant amount of time directly to any possible remediation effort. As it relates to evaluations of purchased properties, depending on the extent of an identified environmental problem, we may exclude a property from the acquisition, require the seller to remediate the property to our satisfaction, or agree to assume liability for the remediation of the property.

We have not historically experienced any environmental liability while being a contract driller since the greatest portion of risk is borne by the operator. Any liabilities we have incurred have been small and have been resolved while the drilling rig is on the location and the cost has been included in the direct cost of drilling the well.

For the next twelve months, we have committed to purchase approximately $6.6 million of new drilling rig components, drill pipe, drill collars and related equipment and $0.3 million remaining towards a gas treating plant.

We are subject to various legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our various businesses none of which, in our opinion, will result in judgments which would have a material adverse effect on our financial position, operating results or cash flows.