Concentrations of Credit Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

15.

Concentrations of Credit Risk

Financial instruments which potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of demand deposits, temporary cash investments and trade receivables.

The Company believes it has placed its demand deposits and temporary cash investments with high credit-quality financial institutions. At December 31, 2013 and 2012, the Company’s demand deposits and temporary cash investments consisted of the following (in thousands):


	2013			2012
Deposits in FDIC and SIPC-insured institutions under insurance limits	$	369		$	270
Deposits in FDIC and SIPC-insured institutions over insurance limits		269,314			161,195
Deposits in foreign banks		20,921			22,511

		290,604			183,976
Less outstanding checks and other reconciling items		(41,095	)		(73,253	)

Cash and cash equivalents	$	249,509		$	110,723

Concentrations of credit risk with respect to trade receivables are primarily focused on companies involved in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas properties. The concentration is somewhat mitigated by the diversification of customers for which the Company provides services. As is general industry practice, the Company typically does not require customers to provide collateral. No significant losses from individual customers were experienced during the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 or 2011. The Company recognized a $1.1 million provision for bad debts in 2012. No provision for bad debts was recognized in 2013 or in 2011.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for any concentrations existing at the date of the financial statements that make an entity vulnerable to a reasonably possible, near-term, severe impact. This disclosure informs financial statement users about the general nature of the risk associated with the concentration, and may indicate the percentage of concentration risk as of the balance sheet date.

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