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Commitments and Contingencies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2013
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Legal Proceedings On April 5, 2011, Wesley West Minerals, Ltd. and Longfellow Ranch Partners, LP filed suit against the Company and SandRidge Exploration and Production, LLC (collectively, the “SandRidge Entities”) in the 83rd District Court of Pecos County, Texas. The plaintiffs, who have leased mineral rights to the SandRidge Entities in Pecos County, allege that the SandRidge Entities have not properly paid royalties on all volumes of natural gas and CO 2 produced from the acreage leased from the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs also allege that the SandRidge Entities have inappropriately failed to pay royalties on CO 2 produced from the plaintiffs' acreage that results from the treatment of natural gas at the Century Plant. The plaintiffs seek approximately $45.5 million in actual damages for the period of time between January 2004 and December 2011, punitive damages and a declaration that the SandRidge Entities must pay royalties on CO 2 produced from the plaintiffs' acreage that results from treatment of natural gas at the Century Plant. The Commissioner of the General Land Office of the State of Texas (“GLO”) is named as an additional defendant in the lawsuit as some of the affected oil and natural gas leases described in the plaintiffs' allegations cover mineral classified lands in which the GLO is entitled to one-half of the royalties attributable to such leases. The GLO has filed a cross-claim against the SandRidge Entities asserting the same claims as the plaintiffs with respect to the leases covering mineral classified lands and seeking approximately $13.0 million in actual damages, inclusive of penalties and interest. On February 5, 2013, the Company received a favorable summary judgment ruling that effectively removes a majority of the plaintiffs' and GLO's claims. On April 29, 2013, the court entered an order allowing for an interlocutory appeal of its summary judgment ruling. The Company intends to continue to defend the remaining issues in this lawsuit as well as any appellate proceedings. At the time of the ruling on summary judgment, the lawsuit was still in the discovery stage and, accordingly, an estimate of reasonably possible losses associated with the remaining causes of action, if any, cannot be made until all of the facts, circumstances and legal theories relating to such claims and the Company's defenses are fully disclosed and analyzed. The Company has not established any reserves relating to this action. On August 4, 2011, Patriot Exploration, LLC, Jonathan Feldman, Redwing Drilling Partners, Mapleleaf Drilling Partners, Avalanche Drilling Partners, Penguin Drilling Partners and Gramax Insurance Company Ltd. filed a lawsuit against the Company, SandRidge Exploration and Production, LLC (“SandRidge E&P”) and certain directors and senior executive officers of the Company (collectively, the “defendants”) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. On October 28, 2011, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging substantially the same allegations as those contained in the original complaint. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants made false and misleading statements to U.S. Drilling Capital Management LLC and to the plaintiffs prior to the entry into a participation agreement among Patriot Exploration, LLC, U.S. Drilling Capital Management LLC and SandRidge E&P, which provided for the investment by the plaintiffs in certain of SandRidge E&P's oil and natural gas properties. To date, the plaintiffs have invested approximately $16.0 million under the participation agreement. The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages and rescission of the participation agreement. On November 28, 2011, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint, which was recently denied. The Company intends to defend this lawsuit vigorously and believes the plaintiffs' claims are without merit. This lawsuit is in the early stages and, accordingly, an estimate of reasonably possible losses associated with this action, if any, cannot be made until the facts, circumstances and legal theories relating to the plaintiffs' claims and the Company's defenses are fully disclosed and analyzed. The Company has not established any reserves relating to this action. Between December 2012 and March 2013, seven putative shareholder derivative actions were filed in state and federal court in Oklahoma:
• | Arthur I. Levine v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on December 19, 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
• | Deborah Depuy v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on January 22, 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
• | Paul Elliot, on Behalf of the Paul Elliot IRA R/O, v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on January 29, 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
• | Dale Hefner v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on January 4, 2013 in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
• | Rocky Romano v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on January 22, 2013 in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
• | Joan Brothers v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on February 15, 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
• | Lisa Ezell, Jefferson L. Mangus, and Tyler D. Mangus v. Tom L. Ward, et al., and SandRidge Energy, Inc., Nominal Defendant - filed on March 22, 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
Each lawsuit identified above was filed derivatively on behalf of the Company and names as defendants the Company's current directors. The Hefner lawsuit also names as defendants certain senior executive officers and past directors of the Company. All seven lawsuits assert overlapping claims - generally that the defendants breached their fiduciary duties, mismanaged the Company, wasted corporate assets, and engaged in, facilitated or approved self-dealing transactions in breach of their fiduciary obligations. The Depuy lawsuit also alleges violations of federal securities laws in connection with the Company allegedly filing and distributing certain misleading proxy statements. The lawsuits seek, among other relief, injunctive relief related to the Company's corporate governance and unspecified damages. On April 10, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma consolidated the Levine, Depuy, Elliot, Brothers, and Ezell actions (the “Federal Shareholder Derivative Litigation”) under the caption “In re SandRidge Energy, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation,” appointed a lead plaintiff and lead counsel, and ordered the lead plaintiff to file a consolidated amended complaint by May 1, 2013. The Company and the individual defendants in the Romano and Hefner actions (the “State Shareholder Derivative Litigation”) have moved to stay each of those actions in favor of the Federal Shareholder Derivative Litigation, in order to avoid duplicative proceedings, and also have requested, in the alternative, the dismissal of the State Shareholder Derivative Litigation. Following the filing of the defendants' initial motion to stay in the Romano case, the plaintiff agreed to stay the proceeding pending the Federal Shareholder Derivative Litigation, and the parties filed a joint motion to stay pending the Federal Shareholder Derivative Litigation. Because the lawsuits comprising the State Shareholder Derivative Litigation and the Federal Shareholder Derivative Litigation have only been recently filed, an estimate of reasonably possible losses associated with each of them, if any, cannot be made until the facts, circumstances and legal theories relating to the claims asserted and available defenses are fully disclosed and analyzed. The Company has not established any reserves relating to these actions. On December 5, 2012, James Glitz and Rodger A. Thornberry, on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated stockholders, filed a putative class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma against SandRidge Energy, Inc. and certain of the Company's executive officers. On January 4, 2013, Louis Carbone, on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated stockholders, filed a substantially similar putative class action complaint in the same court and against the same defendants. In each case, the plaintiffs allege that, between February 24, 2011, and November 8, 2012, the defendants made false and misleading statements, and omitted material information, concerning the Company's oil reserves and business fundamentals, and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market. The plaintiffs seek, among other relief, unspecified damages. On March 6, 2013, the court consolidated these two actions under the caption “In re SandRidge Energy, Inc. Securities Litigation” and appointed a lead plaintiff and lead counsel. By order dated April 10, 2013, the court granted the lead plaintiff until July 23, 2013 to file a consolidated amended complaint in the action. Because these lawsuits have only been recently filed, an estimate of reasonably possible losses associated with them, if any, cannot be made until the facts, circumstances and legal theories relating to the plaintiffs' claims and available defenses are fully disclosed and analyzed. The Company has not established any reserves relating to these actions. On January 7, 2013, Gerald Kallick, on behalf of himself and all other similarly situated stockholders, filed a putative class action complaint in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware against SandRidge Energy, Inc., and each of the Company's current directors. On January 31, 2013, the plaintiff filed an amended class action complaint. In his amended complaint, the plaintiff seeks: (i) declaratory relief that certain change-in-control provisions in the Company's indentures and credit agreement are invalid and unenforceable, (ii) declaratory relief that the directors breached their fiduciary duties by failing to approve the slate of directors proposed by TPG-Axon in its consent solicitation in order to disable the change-in-control provisions described above, (iii) a mandatory injunction requiring the directors to approve nominees for the Board of Directors (the “Board”) submitted by TPG-Axon, (iv) a mandatory injunction prohibiting the Company from paying the Company's CEO his change-in-control benefits under his employment agreement in the event the CEO is removed as a director, but remains employed as the Company's CEO, (v) a mandatory injunction enjoining the defendants from impeding or interfering with the dissident stockholder's consent solicitation, (vi) a mandatory injunction requiring the defendants to disclose all material information related to the change-in-control provisions in the Company's indentures and credit agreement; and (vii) an order requiring the Company's current directors to account to the plaintiff and the putative class for alleged damages. On March 8, 2013, the court granted plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, enjoining the Board, unless and until it approved the TPG-Axon nominees for purposes of the change-in-control provisions of the Company's outstanding debt agreements, from (i) soliciting any further consent revocations in opposition to TPG-Axon's consent solicitation, (ii) relying upon or otherwise giving effect to any consent revocations received by the Company as of March 11, 2013, and (iii) impeding the dissident stockholder's consent solicitation in any way. On March 9, 2013, the Board approved TPG-Axon's nominees for purposes of the change-in-control provisions in the Company's debt instruments. On March 13, 2013, TPG-Axon and the Board entered into a settlement agreement under which TPG-Axon's consent solicitation was withdrawn. As a result of these actions, the Company believes that many of the claims asserted by the plaintiff in the Kallick action have been rendered moot. On April 9, 2013, however, the plaintiff filed a motion to supplement his complaint to assert a new claim. The court has not yet ruled on the motion. In addition to the litigation described above, the Company is a defendant in lawsuits from time to time in the normal course of business. While the results of litigation and claims cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company believes the reasonably possible losses of such matters, individually and in the aggregate, are not material. Additionally, the Company believes the probable final outcome of such matters will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations, cash flows or liquidity. Treating Agreement Commitment In conjunction with the Century Plant construction agreement, the Company entered into a 30-year treating agreement with Occidental for the removal of CO 2 from the Company’s delivered production volumes. Under the agreement, the Company is required to deliver a total of approximately 3,200 Bcf of CO 2 during the agreement period and is required to compensate Occidental to the extent certain minimum annual CO 2 volume requirements are not met. The Company expects to accrue between approximately $29.5 million and $36.0 million at December 31, 2013 for amounts related to the Company’s anticipated shortfall in meeting its 2013 annual delivery obligations based on current projected natural gas production levels. Due to the sensitivity of natural gas production to prevailing market prices, the Company is unable to estimate additional amounts it may be required to pay under this agreement in subsequent periods; however, curtailed drilling due to continued low natural gas prices may result in additional shortfall payments in future periods.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 460 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 8 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6398077&loc=d3e12565-110249 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6952336&loc=d3e14435-108349 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name FASB Interpretation (FIN) -Number 14 -Paragraph 3 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 440 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6394976&loc=d3e25287-109308 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.25) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 825 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6449706&loc=d3e16207-108621 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (FAS) -Number 5 -Paragraph 9, 10, 11, 12 -LegacyDoc This reference is SUPERSEDED by the Accounting Standards Codification effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. This reference is included to help users transition from the previous accounting hierarchy and will be removed from future versions of this taxonomy. + Details
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