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General Information (Unaudited) | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2015
General Information [Abstract] |
General Information | GENERAL INFORMATION The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q and do not include all information and disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the United States (U.S.). Therefore, this information should be read in conjunction with Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s (FCX) consolidated financial statements and notes contained in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. The information furnished herein reflects all adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair statement of the results for the interim periods reported. With the exception of the oil and gas properties impairment discussed below and the related tax charge to establish a deferred tax valuation allowance, all such adjustments are, in the opinion of management, of a normal recurring nature. Operating results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2015. Oil and Gas Properties. Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) full cost accounting rules, FCX reviews the carrying value of its oil and gas properties each quarter on a country-by-country basis. Under these rules, capitalized costs of oil and gas properties (net of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization, and related deferred income taxes) for each cost center may not exceed a “ceiling” equal to:
• | the present value, discounted at 10 percent, of estimated future net cash flows from the related proved oil and natural gas reserves, net of estimated future income taxes; plus
• | the cost of the related unproved properties not being amortized; plus
• | the lower of cost or estimated fair value of the related unproved properties included in the costs being amortized (net of related tax effects).
These rules require that FCX price its future oil and gas production at the twelve-month average of the first-day-of-the-month historical reference prices as adjusted for location and quality differentials. FCX's reference prices are West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for oil and the Henry Hub spot price for natural gas. Such prices are utilized except where different prices are fixed and determinable from applicable contracts for the remaining term of those contracts. The reserve estimates exclude the effect of any crude oil derivatives FCX has in place. The estimated future net cash flows also exclude future cash outflows associated with settling asset retirement obligations included in the net book value of the oil and gas properties. The rules require an impairment if the capitalized costs exceed this “ceiling.” At March 31, 2015, the net capitalized costs with respect to FCX's proved U.S. oil and gas properties exceeded the related ceiling; therefore, an impairment charge of $3.1 billion was recorded in first-quarter 2015, primarily because of the lower twelve-month average of the first-day-of-the-month historical reference oil price and higher capitalized costs at March 31, 2015. The SEC requires that the twelve-month average of the first-day-of-the-month historical reference oil price be used in determining the ceiling amount under its full cost accounting rules. This price (using WTI as the reference oil price) was $82.72 per barrel at March 31, 2015 (the twelve-month average was $94.99 per barrel at December 31, 2014). Because the ceiling limitation uses a twelve-month historical average price, if WTI oil prices remain below the twelve-month average of $82.72 per barrel, the ceiling limitation will decrease, resulting in potentially significant additional ceiling test impairments of FCX's oil and gas properties during the remainder of 2015. In addition, increases in capitalized costs subject to amortization, negative reserve revisions or other factors could result in additional impairments.

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