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Abandonment Obligations

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

3. Abandonment Obligations

The Partnership follows the provisions of ASC topic 410-20, formerly SFAS No. 143, “Accounting for Asset Retirement Obligations” (“SFAS 143”). ASC topic 410-20 requires the Partnership to recognize a liability for the present value of all legal obligations associated with the retirement of tangible, long-lived assets and capitalize an equal amount as a cost of the asset. The cost associated with the abandonment obligations, along with any estimated salvage value, is included in the computation of depreciation, depletion and amortization.

Our asset retirement obligation is measured using primarily Level 3 inputs. The significant unobservable inputs to this fair value measurement include estimates of plugging, abandonment and remediation costs, inflation rate and well life. The inputs are calculated based on historical data as well as current estimated costs.

Changes in abandonment obligations for the six months ended June 30, 2011 and 2010 are as follows:

	2011			2010
Beginning of period	$	514,332		$	545,568
Reduction of obligations due to asset sales and farm-outs	(7,457		)	(3,245		)
Revision of estimates	—			(25,954		)
Accretion expense	16,143			15,895
End of period	$	523,018		$	532,264

- Definition

The entire disclosure for an asset retirement obligation and the associated long-lived asset. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement from service of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees.

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