Income Taxes

Income from continuing operations before income tax expense was comprised of the following for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013

United States	$	30,795	$	144,756	$	177,244
Foreign	112,634		159,968		169,678
Income from continuing operations
before income tax expense	$	143,429	$	304,724	$	346,922

Income taxes have been provided for based upon the tax laws and rates in the countries in which operations are conducted and income is earned. Components of income tax expense consist of the following for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014		2013
Current
U.S. federal	$	3,141		$	19,152	$	9,367
U.S. state and local	(1,424		)	2,663		630
Foreign	30,734			25,602		25,052
Total current	32,451			47,417		35,049

Deferred
U.S. federal	8,138			20,521		10,696
U.S. state and local	(3,042		)	3,357		833
Foreign	(228		)	4,117		(7,851		)
Total deferred	4,868			27,995		3,678
Total income tax expense	$	37,319		$	75,412	$	38,727

Foreign taxes were incurred in the following regions for the periods indicated (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014		2013

Latin America	$	6,077	$	2,301	$	(4,171	)
West Africa	8,413		11,247		8,789
Middle East	5,474		8,630		4,765
Europe	3,317		1,690		1,842
Asia Pacific	1,454		2,032		2,732
Other	5,771		3,819		3,244
Total foreign income tax expense	$	30,506	$	29,719	$	17,201

A reconciliation of the differences between the income tax provision computed at the U.S. statutory rate and the reported provision for income taxes for the periods indicated is as follows (in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015			2014			2013

Income tax expense at statutory rate	$	54,854		$	116,557		$	133,565
Benefit of pass through entity status	—			—			(41,644		)
Taxes on foreign earnings at less than the U.S statutory rate	(12,569		)	(31,468		)	(48,154		)
Noncontrolling interest	(2,991		)	(14,116		)	(6,869		)
Other	(1,975		)	4,439			1,829
Total income tax expense	$	37,319		$	75,412		$	38,727

A reconciliation using the Netherlands statutory rate was not provided as there are no significant operations in the Netherlands.

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recorded for the anticipated future tax effects of temporary differences between the financial statement basis and tax basis of our assets and liabilities using the applicable tax rates in effect at year-end. A valuation allowance is recorded when it is not more likely than not that some or all of the benefit from the deferred tax asset will be realized. Significant components of deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2015			2014
Deferred tax assets
Current
Other	$	—		$	7
Noncurrent
Other	296			1,696
Property and equipment	240			187
Valuation allowance	—			(376		)
Total deferred tax assets	536			1,514

Deferred tax liabilities
Current
Other	—			(417		)
Noncurrent
Investment in partnership	(39,962		)	(35,182		)
Other	(295		)	(139		)
Total deferred liabilities	(40,257		)	(35,738		)

Net deferred tax liabilities	$	(39,721	)	$	(34,224	)

Undistributed earnings of certain of our foreign subsidiaries amounted to approximately $500.0 million at December 31, 2015. It is our intention to permanently reinvest undistributed earnings and profits from the subsidiaries of the consolidated companies’ operations that have been generated through December 31, 2015 and future plans do not demonstrate a need to repatriate the foreign amounts to fund parent company activity.

As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, we have total gross unrecognized tax benefits of $0.1 million and $0.3 million, respectively. Substantially all of the uncertain tax positions, if recognized in the future, would impact our effective tax rate. We have elected to classify interest and penalties incurred on income taxes as income tax expense.

We file income tax returns in various international tax jurisdictions. As of December 31, 2015, the tax years 2009 through 2015 remain open to examination in the major foreign taxing jurisdictions to which we are subject. We are currently under audit by the Internal Revenue Service for the tax period ending June 30, 2014. We do not expect any material adjustments resulting from this audit.