Financial Instruments and Fair Value Disclosures

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]

Financial Instruments and Fair Value Disclosures

6. Financial Instruments and Fair Value Disclosures

Financial instruments that potentially subject us to significant concentrations of credit or market risk consist primarily of periodic temporary investments of excess cash, trade accounts receivable and investments in debt securities. We generally place our excess cash investments in U.S. Treasury bills and U.S. government-backed short-term money market instruments through several financial institutions. We periodically evaluate the relative credit standing of these financial institutions as part of our investment strategy.

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to our trade accounts receivable are limited primarily due to the entities comprising our customer base. Since the market for our services is the offshore oil and gas industry, this customer base has consisted primarily of major and independent oil and gas companies and government-owned oil companies. Based on our current customer base and the geographic areas in which we operate, we do not believe that we have any significant concentrations of credit risk at March 31, 2019.

In general, before working for a customer with whom we have not had a prior business relationship and/or whose financial stability may be uncertain to us, we perform a credit review on that company. Based on that analysis, we may require that the customer present a letter of credit, prepay or provide other credit enhancements. We record a provision for bad debts on a case-by-case basis when facts and circumstances indicate that a customer receivable may not be collectible and, historically, losses on our trade receivables have been infrequent occurrences.

Fair Values

Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The fair value hierarchy prescribed by GAAP requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. There are three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1 Quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets. Level 1 assets include short-term investments such as money market funds and U.S. Treasury bills. Our Level 1 assets at March 31, 2019 consisted of cash held in money market funds of $109.1 million and investments in U.S. Treasury bills of $249.9 million. Our Level 1 assets at December 31, 2018 consisted of cash held in money market funds of $135.8 million and investments in U.S. Treasury bills of $299.8 million.

Level 2 Quoted market prices for similar instruments in active markets; quoted prices for identical or similar instruments in markets that are not active; and model-derived valuations in which all significant inputs and significant value drivers are observable in active markets. We had no Level 2 assets or liabilities as of March 31, 2019 or December 31, 2018.

Level 3 Valuations derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or significant value drivers are unobservable. Level 3 assets and liabilities generally include financial instruments whose value is determined using pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, or similar techniques, as well as instruments for which the determination of fair value requires significant management judgment or estimation or for which there is a lack of transparency as to the inputs used. We had no Level 3 assets as of March 31, 2019 or December 31, 2018.

Certain of our assets and liabilities are required to be measured at fair value on a recurring basis in accordance with GAAP. Assets measured at fair value are summarized below (in thousands).

	March 31, 2019
	Fair Value Measurements Using
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Assets at Fair Value
Recurring fair value measurements:
Short-term investments	$	359,027	$	—	$	—	$	359,027

	December 31, 2018
	Fair Value Measurements Using
	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Assets at Fair Value
Recurring fair value measurements:
Short-term investments	$	435,671	$	—	$	—	$	435,671

We believe that the carrying amounts of our other financial assets and liabilities (excluding long-term debt), which are not measured at fair value in our unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets, approximate fair value based on the following assumptions:

• Cash and cash equivalents -- The carrying amounts approximate fair value because of the short maturity of these instruments.

• Accounts receivable and accounts payable -- The carrying amounts approximate fair value based on the nature of the instruments.

We consider our senior notes to be Level 2 liabilities under the GAAP fair value hierarchy and, accordingly, the fair value of our senior notes was derived using a third-party pricing service at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018. We perform control procedures over information we obtain from pricing services and brokers to test whether prices received represent a reasonable estimate of fair value. These procedures include the review of pricing service or broker pricing methodologies and comparing fair value estimates to actual trade activity executed in the market for these instruments occurring generally within a 10-day period of the report date.

Fair values and related carrying values of our senior notes are shown below (in millions).

	March 31, 2019				December 31, 2018
	Fair Value		Carrying Value		Fair Value		Carrying Value
3.45% Senior Notes due 2023	$	214.4	$	249.5	$	185.0	$	249.5
7.875% Senior Notes due 2025		482.5		497.0		415.0		496.8
5.70% Senior Notes due 2039		336.2		497.2		305.0		497.2
4.875% Senior Notes due 2043		474.4		748.9		416.3		748.9

We have estimated the fair value amounts by using appropriate valuation methodologies and information available to management. Considerable judgment is required in developing these estimates, and accordingly, no assurance can be given that the estimated values are indicative of the amounts that would be realized in a free market exchange.