COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES:

Chapter 11 Proceedings

The commencement of the Chapter 11 proceedings automatically stayed certain actions against the Company, including actions to collect pre-petition liabilities or to exercise control over the property of the Debtors. The Plan in our Chapter 11 proceedings provides for the treatment of pre-petition liabilities that have not otherwise been satisfied or addressed during the Chapter 11 cases. See Note 2 – Chapter 11 Proceedings.

Legal Proceedings

We are named as a party in certain lawsuits and regulatory proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. We do not expect that these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition.

Leases

We lease office facilities in Lafayette and New Orleans, Louisiana, Houston, Texas and New Martinsville and Morgantown, West Virginia under the terms of long-term, non-cancelable leases expiring on various dates through 2021. We also lease certain equipment on our oil and gas properties typically on a month-to-month basis. The minimum net annual commitments under all leases, subleases and contracts with non-cancelable terms in excess of 12 months at December 31, 2016 were as follows:



2017	$	877
2018	612
2019	453
2020	453
2021	113

Payments related to our lease obligations for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 were approximately $676, $2,076 and $966, respectively.

Other Commitments and Contingencies

On March 21, 2016, we received notice letters from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ("BOEM") stating that BOEM had determined that we no longer qualified for a supplemental bonding waiver under the financial criteria specified in BOEM’s guidance to lessees at such time. BOEM's notice letters indicated the amount of Stone's supplemental bonding needs could be as much as $565,000. In late March 2016, we proposed a tailored plan to BOEM for financial assurances relating to our abandonment obligations, which provides for posting some incremental financial assurances in favor of BOEM. On May 13, 2016, we received notice letters from BOEM rescinding its demand for supplemental bonding with the understanding that we will continue to make progress with BOEM towards finalizing and implementing our long-term tailored plan. Currently, we have posted an aggregate of approximately $117,686 in surety bonds in favor of BOEM, third party bonds and letters of credit, all relating to our offshore abandonment obligations. A global update of the GOM decommissioning estimates was made on August 29, 2016, and BOEM requested that we resubmit our tailored plan to reflect the updated decommissioning estimates. The bonds represent guarantees by the surety insurance companies that we will operate in accordance with applicable rules and regulations and perform certain plugging and abandonment obligations as specified by applicable working interest purchase and sale agreements.

In July 2016, BOEM issued a Notice to Lessees ("NTL"), with an effective date of September 12, 2016, that augments requirements for the posting of additional financial assurances by offshore lessees. The NTL discontinues the policy of Supplemental Bonding Waivers and allows for the ability to self insure up to 10% of a company’s tangible net worth, where a company can demonstrate a certain level of financial strength. The NTL provides new procedures for how BOEM determines a lessee’s decommissioning obligations and, consistent with those procedures, BOEM has tentatively proposed an implementation timeline that offshore lessees will follow in providing additional financial assurance, including BOEM’s issuance of (i) "Self-Insurance" letters beginning September 12, 2016 (regarding a lessee’s ability to self-insure a portion of the additional financial assurance), (ii) "Proposal" letters beginning October 12, 2016 (outlining what amount of additional security a lessee will be required to provide), and (iii) "Order" letters beginning November 14, 2016 (triggering a lessee’s obligations (A) within 10 days of such letter to notify BOEM that it intends to pursue a "tailored plan" for posting additional security over a phased-in period of time, (B) within 60 days of such letter, provide additional security for "sole liability" properties (leases or grants for which there is no other current or prior owner who is liable for decommissioning obligations), and (C) within 120 days of such letter, provide additional security for any other properties and/or submit a tailored financial plan).

We received a Self-Insurance letter from BOEM dated September 30, 2016 stating that we are not eligible to self-insure any of our additional security obligations. We received a Proposal letter from BOEM dated October 20, 2016 indicating that additional security may be required, and we are continuing to work with BOEM to adjust our previously submitted tailored plan for variances between our decommissioning estimates and that of BSEE's. In the first quarter of 2017, BOEM announced that it will extend the implementation timeline for the new NTL by an additional six months. The revised proposed plan may require approximately $7,000 to $10,000 of incremental financial assurance or bonding for sole liability properties and potentially an additional $30,000 to $60,000 of incremental financial assurance or bonding for non-sole liability properties by the end of 2017 or in 2018, dependent on adjustments following ongoing discussions with BSEE and any modifications to the NTL. Under the revised proposed plan, additional financial assurance would be required for subsequent years. There is no assurance that this tailored plan will be approved by BOEM, and BOEM may require further revisions to our plan.

In connection with our exploration and development efforts, we are contractually committed to the use of drilling rigs and the acquisition of seismic data in the aggregate amount of $28,030 to be incurred over the next two years.

The Oil Pollution Act (the "OPA") imposes ongoing requirements on a responsible party, including the preparation of oil spill response plans and proof of financial responsibility to cover environmental cleanup and restoration costs that could be incurred in connection with an oil spill. Under the OPA and a final rule adopted by the BOEM in August 1998, responsible parties of covered offshore facilities that have a worst case oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels must demonstrate financial responsibility in amounts ranging from at least $10,000 in specified state waters to at least $35,000 in Outer Continental Shelf ("OCS") waters, with higher amounts of up to $150,000 in certain limited circumstances where the BOEM believes such a level is justified by the risks posed by the operations, or if the worst case oil-spill discharge volume possible at the facility may exceed the applicable threshold volumes specified under the BOEM’s final rule. In addition, the BOEM has finalized rules that raise OPA's damages liability cap from $75,000 to $133,650.