Derivative Instruments

The Company utilizes derivative financial instruments to manage risks related to changes in crude oil and natural gas prices. The Company’s crude oil and natural gas contracts will settle monthly based on the average NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude oil index price (“WTI”) and the average NYMEX Henry Hub natural gas index price (“Henry Hub”), respectively. At December 31, 2017, the Company utilized swaps and two-way and three-way costless collar options to reduce the volatility of oil and natural gas prices on a significant portion of its future expected oil and natural gas production. A swap is a sold call and a purchased put established at the same price (both ceiling and floor), which the Company will receive for the volumes under contract. A two-way collar is a combination of options: a sold call and a purchased put. The purchased put establishes a minimum price (floor) and the sold call establishes a maximum price (ceiling) the Company will receive for the volumes under contract. A three-way collar is a combination of options: a sold call, a purchased put and a sold put. The purchased put establishes a minimum price (floor), unless the market price falls below the sold put (sub-floor), at which point the minimum price would be the NYMEX index price plus the difference between the purchased put and the sold put strike price. The sold call establishes a maximum price (ceiling) the Company will receive for the volumes under contract.

All derivative instruments are recorded on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets as either assets or liabilities measured at their fair value (see Note 6 — Fair Value Measurements). The Company has not designated any derivative instruments as hedges for accounting purposes and does not enter into such instruments for speculative trading purposes. If a derivative does not qualify as a hedge or is not designated as a hedge, the changes in fair value are recognized in the other income (expense) section of the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations as a net gain or loss on derivative instruments. The Company’s cash flow is only impacted when the actual settlements under the derivative contracts result in making a payment to or receiving a payment from the counterparty. These cash settlements represent the cumulative gains and losses on the Company’s derivative instruments and do not include a recovery of costs that were paid to acquire or modify the derivative instruments that were settled. Cash settlements are reflected as investing activities in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

At December 31, 2017, the Company had the following outstanding commodity derivative instruments:



Commodity	Settlement Period	Derivative Instrument	Volumes		Weighted Average Prices								Fair Value Asset (Liabilities)
Commodity	Settlement Period	Derivative Instrument	Volumes		Swap		Sub-Floor		Floor		Ceiling		Fair Value Asset (Liabilities)
													(In thousands)
Crude oil	2018	Swaps	13,675,000	Bbl	$	51.25							$	(109,129	)
Crude oil	2018	Two-way collar	1,250,000	Bbl					$	48.19	$	53.33	(7,785		)
Crude oil	2018	Three-way collar	186,000	Bbl			$	31.67	$	45.83	$	59.94	(107		)
Crude oil	2019	Swaps	4,091,000	Bbl	$	51.52							(18,635		)
Crude oil	2019	Two-way collar	93,000	Bbl					$	48.67	$	53.07	(513		)
Crude oil	2020	Swaps	279,000	Bbl	$	51.76							(728		)
Natural gas	2018	Swaps	7,665,000	MMbtu	$	3.05							1,683
													$	(135,214	)

In January and February 2018, the Company entered into new swaps and three-way costless collar options for crude oil and natural gas with weighted average floor prices of $56.16 per barrel and $3.03 per MMBtu, respectively. The commodity contracts included total notional amounts of 756,000 barrels, 2,400,000 barrels and 217,000 barrels which settle in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, based on WTI and 668,000 MMBtu which settle in 2018 based on Henry Hub. These derivative instruments do not qualify for and were not designated as hedging instruments for accounting purposes.

The following table summarizes the location and amounts of gains and losses from the Company’s commodity derivative instruments recorded in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations for the periods presented:



	Year Ended December 31,
Statement of Operations Location	2017			2016			2015
	(In thousands)
Net gain (loss) on derivative instruments	$	(71,657	)	$	(105,317	)	$	210,376

In accordance with the FASB’s authoritative guidance on disclosures about offsetting assets and liabilities, the Company is required to disclose both gross and net information about instruments and transactions eligible for offset in the statement of financial position as well as instruments and transactions subject to an agreement similar to a master netting agreement. The Company’s derivative instruments are presented as assets and liabilities on a net basis by counterparty, as all counterparty contracts provide for net settlement. No margin or collateral balances are deposited with counterparties, and as such, gross amounts are offset to determine the net amounts presented in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets.

The following tables summarize the location and fair value of all outstanding commodity derivative instruments recorded in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets:



		December 31, 2017
Commodity	Balance Sheet Location	Gross Recognized Assets/Liabilities		Gross Amount Offset			Net Recognized Fair Value Assets/Liabilities
		(In thousands)
Derivatives assets:
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — current assets	$	344	$	—		$	344
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — non-current assets	9		—			9
Total derivatives assets		$	353	$	—		$	353
Derivatives liabilities:
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — current liabilities	$	117,629	$	(1,913	)	$	115,716
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — non-current liabilities	20,035		(184		)	19,851
Total derivatives liabilities		$	137,664	$	(2,097	)	$	135,567

		December 31, 2016
Commodity	Balance Sheet Location	Gross Recognized Asset/Liabilities		Gross Amount Offset			Net Recognized Fair Value Asset/Liabilities
		(In thousands)
Derivatives assets:
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — current assets	$	482	$	(120	)	$	362
Total derivatives assets		$	482	$	(120	)	$	362
Derivatives liabilities:
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — current liabilities	$	66,838	$	(6,369	)	$	60,469
Commodity contracts	Derivative instruments — non-current liabilities	14,164		(2,450		)	11,714
Total derivatives liabilities		$	81,002	$	(8,819	)	$	72,183