Concentrations of Credit Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

16. 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, 2016 and 2015, the Company’s demand deposits and temporary cash investments consisted of the following (in thousands):

	2016			2015
Deposits in FDIC and SIPC-insured institutions under insurance limits	$	846		$	617
Deposits in FDIC and SIPC-insured institutions over insurance limits		12,866			130,330
Deposits in foreign banks		27,557			15,303
		41,269			146,250
Less outstanding checks and other reconciling items		(6,117	)		(32,904	)
Cash and cash equivalents	$	35,152		$	113,346

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, 2016, 2015 or 2014. No provision for bad debts was recognized in 2016, 2015 or 2014.