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Guarantees | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2011
Guarantees | Note 14—Guarantees At December 31, 2011, we were liable for certain contingent obligations under various contractual arrangements as described below. We recognize a liability, at inception, for the fair value of our obligation as a guarantor for newly issued or modified guarantees. Unless the carrying amount of the liability is noted below, we have not recognized a liability either because the guarantees were issued prior to December 31, 2002, or because the fair value of the obligation is immaterial. In addition, unless otherwise stated we are not currently performing with any significance under the guarantee and expect future performance to be either immaterial or have only a remote chance of occurrence. Construction Completion Guarantees In December 2005, we issued a construction completion guarantee for 30 percent of the $4.0 billion in loan facilities of Qatargas 3, which are being used to finance the construction of an LNG train in Qatar. Of the $4.0 billion in loan facilities, we committed to provide $1.2 billion. Effective December 15, 2011, the project achieved financial completion, the financing became nonrecourse to ConocoPhillips and our guarantee was released. Guarantees of Joint Venture Debt At December 31, 2011, we had guarantees outstanding for our portion of joint venture debt obligations, which have terms of up to 24 years. The maximum potential amount of future payments under the guarantees is approximately $100 million. Payment would be required if a joint venture defaults on its debt obligations. Other Guarantees
| • |  | In conjunction with our purchase of an ownership interest in APLNG from Origin Energy in October 2008, we agreed to participate, if and when requested, in any parent company guarantees that were outstanding at the time we purchased our interest in APLNG. These parent company guarantees cover the obligation of APLNG to deliver natural gas under several sales agreements with remaining terms of 5 to 20 years. Our maximum potential amount of future payments, or cost of volume delivery, under these guarantees is estimated to be $1,261 million ($2,820 million in the event of intentional or reckless breach) at December 2011 exchange rates based on our 42.5 percent share of the remaining contracted volumes, which could become payable if APLNG fails to meet its obligations under these agreements and the obligations cannot otherwise be mitigated. Future payments are considered unlikely, as the payments, or cost of volume delivery, would only be triggered if APLNG does not have enough natural gas to meet these sales commitments and if the co-venturers do not make necessary equity contributions into APLNG. Additionally, we have guaranteed the performance of APLNG with regard to certain contracts executed in connection with APLNG’s issuance of the Train 1 Notice to Proceed. Our maximum potential amount of future payments related to these guarantees is estimated to be $171 million at December 2011 exchange rates based on our 42.5 percent ownership in APLNG.
| • |  | We have other guarantees with maximum future potential payment amounts totaling $450 million, which consist primarily of guarantees to fund the short-term cash liquidity deficits of certain joint ventures, a guarantee of minimum charter revenue for two LNG vessels, one small construction completion guarantee, guarantees relating to the startup of a refining joint venture, guarantees of the lease payment obligations of a joint venture, guarantees of the residual value of leased corporate aircraft, and guarantees of the performance of a business partner or some of its customers. These guarantees generally extend up to 13 years or life of the venture.
Indemnifications Over the years, we have entered into various agreements to sell ownership interests in certain corporations, joint ventures and assets that gave rise to qualifying indemnifications. Agreements associated with these sales include indemnifications for taxes, environmental liabilities, permits and licenses, employee claims, real estate indemnity against tenant defaults, and litigation. The terms of these indemnifications vary greatly. The majority of these indemnifications are related to environmental issues, the term is generally indefinite and the maximum amount of future payments is generally unlimited. The carrying amount recorded for these indemnifications at December 31, 2011, was $362 million. We amortize the indemnification liability over the relevant time period, if one exists, based on the facts and circumstances surrounding each type of indemnity. In cases where the indemnification term is indefinite, we will reverse the liability when we have information the liability is essentially relieved or amortize the liability over an appropriate time period as the fair value of our indemnification exposure declines. Although it is reasonably possible future payments may exceed amounts recorded, due to the nature of the indemnifications, it is not possible to make a reasonable estimate of the maximum potential amount of future payments. Included in the recorded carrying amount were $218 million of environmental accruals for known contamination that are included in asset retirement obligations and accrued environmental costs at December 31, 2011. For additional information about environmental liabilities, see Note 15—Contingencies and Commitments.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for each guarantee obligation, or each group of similar guarantee obligations, including (a) the nature of the guarantee, including its term, how it arose, and the events or circumstances that would require the guarantor to perform under the guarantee; (b) the maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee; (c) the current carrying amount of the liability, if any, for the guarantor's obligations under the guarantee; and (d) the nature of any recourse provisions under the guarantee, and any assets held either as collateral or by third parties, and any relevant related party disclosure. Excludes disclosures about product warranties. + References No definition available. + Details
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