Asset Retirement Obligations

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Asset Retirement Obligation Disclosure [Abstract]

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending aggregate carrying amounts of the asset retirement obligations for the period from December 31, 2012 to March 31, 2013 is as follows (in thousands):



Asset retirement obligations at December 31, 2012	$	498,410
Liability incurred upon acquiring and drilling wells	1,102
Liability settled or disposed in current period	(50,722		)
Accretion	9,779
Asset retirement obligations at March 31, 2013	458,569
Less: current portion	91,113
Asset retirement obligations, net of current	$	367,456

Liability settled or disposed during the three-month period ended March 31, 2013 includes $22.7 million for the balance of a plugging and abandonment obligation associated with the Company’s Bullwinkle platform in the Gulf of Mexico and $15.2 million disposed in conjunction with the sale of the Permian Properties in February 2013.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for an asset retirement obligation and the associated long-lived asset. An asset retirement obligation is a legal obligation associated with the disposal or retirement from service of a tangible long-lived asset that results from the acquisition, construction or development, or the normal operations of a long-lived asset, except for certain obligations of lessees.

+ References+ Details