During the first three months of 2017, we contributed $19 million to our domestic benefit plans and $41 million to our international benefit plans. In 2017, we expect to contribute approximately $340 million to our domestic qualified and nonqualified pension and postretirement benefit plans and $120 million to our international qualified and nonqualified pension and postretirement benefit plans.

During the three-month period ended March 31, 2017, lump-sum benefit payments exceeded the sum of service and interest costs for the fiscal year for the U.S. qualified pension plan and certain U.S. nonqualified supplemental retirement plans. As a result, we recognized a proportionate share of prior actuarial losses from other comprehensive income as pension settlement expense of $60 million.

Severance Accrual

As a result of entering into a definitive agreement during the first quarter to sell our 50 percent nonoperated interest in the FCCL Partnership, as well as the majority of our western Canada gas assets, a reduction in our overall employee workforce is expected in 2017. Severance accruals of $39 million were recorded during the three-month period ended March 31, 2017. The following table summarizes our severance accrual activity for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017:

Of the remaining balance at March 31, 2017, $48 million is classified as short-term.