Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Text Block

Commitments and Contingencies:

We have various commitments from continuing operations for firm transportation, operating lease agreements for office space and other agreements. As of December 31, 2014, future minimum payments under these non-cancelable agreements are as follows:

	Firm Transportation		Operating Leases (Office Space)		Drilling-Related		Other		Total
	(In millions)
Year Ending December 31,
2015	$	72	$	18	$	196	$	26	$	312
2016	85		15		36		16		152
2017	82		15		—		13		110
2018	63		14		—		12		89
2019	52		12		—		11		75
Thereafter	35		24		—		35		94
Total minimum future payments	$	389	$	98	$	232	$	113	$	832

Firm transportation is comprised of various agreements with third parties for oil and gas gathering and transportation. Rent expense with respect to our lease commitments for office space for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012 was $20 million, $19 million and $17 million, respectively. Our other agreements are primarily other equipment leases. Payments under our drilling-related contracts are accounted for as capital additions to our oil and gas properties.

We have various oil and gas production volume delivery commitments that are related to our domestic operations. As of December 31, 2014, our delivery commitments through 2025 were as follows:

	Natural Gas	Oil(1)
Year Ending December 31,	(MMMBtus)	(MBbls)
2015	15,372	6,570
2016	—	13,908
2017	—	13,870
2018	—	13,870
2019	—	13,870
Thereafter	—	46,576
Total delivery commitments	15,372	108,664

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(1) Our oil delivery commitments include commitments with Salt Lake City, Utah refiners. Our delivery commitments are for approximately 18,000 barrels of oil per day through 2020 and an additional 20,000 barrels of oil per day expected to start in 2016 and continuing through 2025. The 20,000 barrel per day delivery commitment represents approximately 7,300 MBbls of our committed oil volumes for each of the years 2016 through 2025. The timing may change due to timing of the refinery expansion completion. These commitments relate to our Uinta Basin production.

Given the recent decline in oil and natural gas prices and the related impact on our 2015 planned capital investments as well as the potential impact on development plans in future years, we could fail to deliver the minimum production required under these commitments. In the event that we are unable to meet our crude oil volume delivery commitments, we would incur deficiency fees ranging from $1.83 to $6.50 per barrel.

Litigation

We have been named as a defendant in a number of lawsuits and are involved in various other disputes, all arising in the ordinary course of our business, such as (a) claims from royalty owners for disputed royalty payments, (b) commercial disputes, (c) personal injury claims and (d) property damage claims. Although the outcome of these lawsuits and disputes cannot be predicted with certainty, we do not expect these matters to have a material adverse effect on our financial position, cash flows or results of operations.

During the fourth quarter 2012, we settled a lawsuit where the Company was the plaintiff and recorded a gain of $13 million in “Other income (expense) — Other, net” on our consolidated statement of operations.