Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations, Disclosure [Text Block]

Discontinued Operations

In 2013, we met the criteria to classify our Malaysia business as held for sale and discontinued operations. In February 2014, we closed the sale of our Malaysia business to SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad (SapuraKencana), a Malaysian public company, for $898 million. As a result of the sale, we recorded a gain in the first quarter of 2014 of approximately $388 million ($252 million, after tax). In the fourth quarter of 2014, we recorded an allowance against a receivable from SapuraKencana and reduced the previously recognized gain by $15 million ($10 million, after tax) due to uncertainty associated with collectability. There are no other assets and liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet attributable to discontinued operations as of December 31, 2016 or 2015.

Results of Discontinued Operations

	Year Ended December 31, 2014
	(In millions)
Oil and gas revenues (1)	$	90
Operating expenses	69
Income from discontinued operations	21
Gain on sale of Malaysia business	373
Income from discontinued operations before income taxes	394
Income tax provision (benefit):
Current	12
Deferred	132
Total income tax provision (benefit)	144
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax	$	250

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(1) Certain payments to foreign governments made on our behalf that are part of the revenue process are recorded as a reduction of the related oil and gas revenues.

Income Taxes

Historically, our effective tax rate in Malaysia was approximately 38%. As a result of our December 2012 decision to repatriate earnings from our international operations, we experienced higher international effective tax rates due to these earnings being taxed in both the U.S. and the local country. The effective tax rate for our discontinued operations for the year ended December 31, 2014 was 37%, as the majority of our income from discontinued operations resulted from the gain on the sale of our Malaysia business, which was only taxable in the U.S.