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FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]


27.			FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Interest rate risk management

In certain situations, we may enter into financial instruments to reduce the risk associated with fluctuations in interest rates. We have entered into swaps that convert floating rate interest obligations to fixed rates, which from an economic perspective, hedge the interest rate exposure. We do not hold or issue instruments for speculative or trading purposes. The counterparties to such contracts are major banking and financial institutions. Credit risk exists to the extent that the counterparties are unable to perform under the contracts; however we do not anticipate non-performance by any of our counterparties.

We manage our debt portfolio with interest rate swap agreements in U.S. dollars to achieve an overall desired position of fixed and floating interest rates. Since 2015, we have ceased hedge accounting for any of our derivatives.

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we were party to the following interest rate swap transactions involving the payment of fixed rates in exchange for LIBOR as summarized below:

Instrument
(in thousands of $)

Year end

Notional value

Maturity dates

Fixed interest rates

Interest rate swaps:

Receiving floating, pay fixed

2021

505,000

2024/2029

1.69% to 2.37%

Receiving floating, pay fixed

2020

597,500

2021/2029

1.69% to 2.37%

Foreign currency risk

The majority of the vessels' gross earnings are receivable in U.S. dollars. The majority of our transactions, assets and liabilities are denominated in U.S. dollars, our functional currency. However, we incur certain expenditure in other currencies. There is a risk that currency fluctuations will have a negative effect on the value of our cash flows.

Commodity price risk management

A derivative asset, representing the fair value of the estimated discounted cash flows of payments due as a result of the Brent Crude price moving above the contractual floor of $60.00 per barrel over the contract term, was recognized in December 2017 following the effectiveness of the LTA. Golar bears no downside risk should the Brent Crude price move below $60.00.

The 2022 Incremental Capacity for the Hilli is linked to European natural gas prices. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we were party to a commodity swap involving the payment of fixed prices in exchange for Dutch Natural Gas to manage our exposure to the European natural gas prices as summarized below:

Instrument

Year end

Notional quantity (tons)

Maturity date

Fixed price

Commodity swap derivatives:

Receiving fixed, pay floating

2021

23,249

2022

$23.25 to $28.00

Equity price risk

Our Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program, which is being partly financed through the use of total return swap or equity swap facilities with third party banks, indexed to our own shares. We carry the risk of fluctuations in the share price of those acquired shares. The banks are compensated at their cost of funding plus a margin. In February 2020, we purchased the remaining 1.5 million of our shares and 107,000 of Golar Partners' units underlying the total return swap, at an average price of $46.91 and $21.40, respectively at a fair consideration of $72.7 million, of which $59.3 million restricted cash was released at repurchase, with $55.5 million to settle the derivative liability fair value (note 15) and $17.2 million relating to the fair value of the shares and units underlying the total return swap. The effect of our total return swap facilities in our consolidated statement of operation as at December 31, 2020 was a loss of $5.1 million.

Fair values of financial instruments

We recognize our fair value estimates using a fair value hierarchy based on the inputs used to measure fair value. The fair value hierarchy has three levels based on reliability of inputs used to determine fair value as follows:

Level 1: Quoted market prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities;

Level 2: Observable market-based inputs or unobservable inputs that are corroborated by market data; and

Level 3: Unobservable inputs that are not corroborated by market data.

There have been no transfers between different levels in the fair value hierarchy during the year.

The carrying value and fair value of our financial instruments at December 31, 2021 and 2020 are as follows:


		2021	2021	2020	2020
(in thousands of $)	Fair value hierarchy	Carrying value	Fair value	Carrying value	Fair value

Non-derivatives:
Cash and cash equivalents (1)	Level 1	268,627	268,627	127,691	127,691
Restricted cash and short-term deposits (2)	Level 1	150,165	150,165	163,181	163,181
Trade accounts receivable (3)	Level 1	29,749	29,749	29,648	29,648
Investment in listed equity securities (4)	Level 1	449,666	449,666	—	—
Trade accounts payable (3)	Level 1	(12,405)	(12,405)	(10,579)	(10,579)
Current portion of long-term debt and short-term debt (5) (6) (7)	Level 2	(736,905)	(736,905)	(984,510)	(984,510)
Current portion of convertible bonds (6) (8)	Level 2	(315,646)	(316,561)	—	—
Long-term debt – convertible bonds (6) (8)	Level 2	—	—	(383,740)	(366,581)
Long-term debt (6) (7)	Level 2	(1,389,374)	(1,389,374)	(1,011,281)	(1,011,281)

Derivatives:
Oil and gas derivative instruments (9) (10)	Level 2	207,058	207,058	540	540
Interest rate swaps liability (9) (11) (12) (13)	Level 2	(17,300)	(17,300)	(44,315)	(44,315)
Commodity swap asset (11)	Level 2	1,753	1,753	—	—
Commodity swap liability (11)	Level 2	(88)	(88)	—	—
Foreign exchange swaps liability (9) (11) (13)	Level 2	—	—	(1,310)	(1,310)

(1) The carrying value of cash and cash equivalents, which are highly liquid, is a reasonable estimate of fair value.

(2) The carrying value of restricted cash and short-term deposits is considered to be equal to the estimated fair value because of their near term maturity.

(3) The carrying values of trade accounts receivable and trade accounts payable approximate fair values because of the near term maturity of these instruments.

(4) “Investment in listed equity securities” refers to our 18.6 million NFE Shares (note 14 and 16). The fair value was calculated using the NFE closing share price as at December 31, 2021, resulting in a valuation of $449.7 million.

(5) The carrying amounts of our short-term debt approximate their fair values because of the near term maturity of these instruments.

(6) Our debt obligations are recorded at amortized cost in the consolidated balance sheets. The amounts presented in the table are gross of the deferred charges amounting to 32.1 million and $28.7 million at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

(7) The estimated fair values for both the floating long-term debt and short-term debt to a related party are considered to be equal to the carrying value since they bear variable interest rates, which are adjusted on a quarterly or six-monthly basis.

(8) The estimated fair value for the liability component of the unsecured convertible bonds is based on the quoted market price as at the balance sheet date.

(9) Derivative assets are generally captured within other current assets and non-current assets and derivative liabilities are captured within other current liabilities on the balance sheet.

(10) The fair value of the oil and gas derivative instruments was determined using the estimated discounted cash flows of the additional payments due to us as a result of oil prices moving above a contractual oil price floor over the term of the LTA and the estimated discounted cash flows of the additional payments due to us in 2022 as a result of gas prices moving with respect to the contractual pricing terms per the LTA Amendment and the Euro/USD exchange rates based on the forex forward curve. Significant inputs used in the valuation of the oil and gas derivative instruments include management’s estimate of an appropriate discount rate and the length of time necessary to blend the long-term and short-term oil and gas prices obtained from quoted prices in active markets.

(11) The fair value of certain derivative instruments is the estimated amount that we would receive or pay to terminate the agreements at the reporting date, taking into account current interest rates, foreign exchange rates, closing quoted market prices and our creditworthiness and that of our counterparties.

(12) The credit exposure of interest rate swap agreements is represented by the fair value of contracts with a positive value at the end of each period, reduced by the effects of master netting arrangements. It is our policy to enter into master netting agreements with counterparties to derivative financial instrument contracts, which give us the legal right to discharge all or a portion of the amounts owed to the counterparty by offsetting them against amounts that the counterparty owes to us.

(13) The fair value measurement of a liability must reflect the non-performance of the entity. Therefore, the impact of our credit worthiness has also been factored into the fair value measurement of the derivative instruments in a liability position.

The following methods and assumptions were used to estimate the fair value of our other classes of financial instrument:

•The carrying values of loans receivables and working capital facilities approximate fair values because of the near-term maturity of these instruments (note 16, 23 and 28). These instruments are classified within Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

•Our pension plan assets are primarily invested in funds holding equity and debt securities, which are valued at quoted market price (note 25). These plan assets are classified within Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

The following table summarizes the fair value of our derivative instruments on a gross basis (none of which have been designated as hedges) recorded in our consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020:


	Balance sheet classification	2021	2020
(in thousands of $)
Asset derivatives
Gas derivative instrument	Other current assets (note 16)	79,578	—
Oil derivative instrument	Other non-current assets (note 20)	127,480	540
Commodity swap	Other current assets (note 16)	1,753	—
Total asset derivatives		208,811	540
Liability derivatives
Interest rate swaps	Other current liabilities (note 23)	(17,300)	(44,315)
Commodity swap	Other current liabilities (note 23)	(88)	—
Foreign exchange swaps	Other current liabilities	—	(1,310)
Total liability derivatives		(17,388)	(45,625)

It is our policy to enter into master netting agreements with the counterparties to derivative financial instrument contracts, which give us the legal right to discharge all or a portion of amounts owed to the counterparty by offsetting them against amounts that the counterparty owes to us. We have elected not to offset the fair values of derivative assets and liabilities executed with the same counterparty that are generally subject to enforceable master netting arrangements. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the amounts presented in our consolidated balance sheet in relation to interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps are not able to be offset. For our commodity swaps, if we were to offset and record the asset and liability balances of derivatives on a net basis, the amounts presented in our consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 would be adjusted as detailed in the following table:


	2021			2020
	Gross amounts presented in the consolidated balance sheet	Gross amounts not offset in the consolidated balance sheet subject to netting agreements	Net amount	Gross amounts presented in the consolidated balance sheet	Gross amounts not offset in the consolidated balance sheet subject to netting agreements	Net amount
(in thousands of $)




Commodity swaps
Total asset derivatives	1,753	(88)	1,665	—	—	—
Total liability derivatives	(88)	88	—	—	—	—

Some of our interest rate swaps have a credit arrangement that requires us to provide cash collateral when the market value of the instrument falls below a specified threshold. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, cash collateral amounting to $nil and $8.9 million has been provided (note 15).

Concentrations of risk

There is a concentration of credit risk with respect to cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash to the extent that substantially all of the amounts are carried with Internationale Nederlanden Groep (“ING”) Bank, Nordea Bank ABP, DNB Bank ASA, Citibank, Standard Chartered and Danske Bank. However, we believe this risk is remote, as they are established and reputable establishments with no prior history of default.

There is a concentration of financing risk with respect to our long-term debt to the extent that a substantial amount of our long-term debt is carried with ING, Citibank, Nordea Bank, Danske Bank A/S, DNB Bank ASA, K-Sure, KEXIM and commercial lenders of our $1.125 billion facility, as well as with ICBCL, CCBFL, COSCO, CSSC and AVIC in regards to our sale and leaseback arrangements (note 5). We believe these counterparties to be sound financial institutions, with investment grade credit ratings. Therefore, we believe this risk is remote.

We also have an equity investment in our affiliate, Avenir, as of December 31, 2021, our ownership interests and the carrying value of the investment recorded in our balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 was 23.5% and $47.9 million, respectively. Accordingly, the value of our investment and the income generated from Avenir is subject to specific risks associated with its business. In the event the decline in the fair value of the investment falls below the carrying value and it was determined to be other-than-temporary, we would be required to recognize an impairment loss.

A further concentration of supplier risk exists in relation to the Gimi undergoing FLNG conversion with Keppel and B&V. However, we believe this risk is remote as Keppel are global leaders in the shipbuilding and vessel conversion sectors while B&V is a global engineering, procurement and construction company.