v3.21.2
Guarantees
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2021
Guarantees [Abstract]  
Guarantees
Note 8—Guarantees
 
At June 30, 2021, we were liable for certain
 
contingent obligations under various contractual
 
arrangements as
described below.
 
We recognize a liability, at inception, for the fair value of our obligation as a guarantor for
newly issued or modified guarantees.
 
Unless the carrying amount of the liability is noted
 
below, we have not
recognized a liability because the fair value of the
 
obligation is immaterial.
 
In addition, unless otherwise
stated, we are not currently performing with any
 
significance under the guarantee and expect future
performance to be either immaterial or have only
 
a remote chance of occurrence.
 
APLNG Guarantees
At June 30, 2021, we had outstanding multiple
 
guarantees in connection with our
37.5
 
percent ownership
interest in APLNG.
 
The following is a description of the guarantees
 
with values calculated utilizing June 2021
exchange rates:
 
 
 
During the third quarter of 2016, we issued a guarantee
 
to facilitate the withdrawal of our pro-rata
portion of the funds in a project finance reserve
 
account.
 
We estimate the remaining term of this
guarantee is
10 years
.
 
Our maximum exposure under this guarantee is
 
approximately $
170
 
million
and may become payable if an enforcement action
 
is commenced by the project finance lenders
against APLNG.
 
At June 30, 2021, the carrying value of this
 
guarantee was $
14
 
million.
 
 
In conjunction with our original purchase of an ownership
 
interest in APLNG from Origin Energy in
October 2008, we agreed to reimburse Origin
 
Energy for our share of the existing contingent liability
arising under guarantees of an existing obligation
 
of APLNG to deliver natural gas under several
 
sales
agreements with remaining terms of
1 to 21 years
.
 
Our maximum potential liability for future
payments, or cost of volume delivery, under these guarantees is estimated
 
to be $
710
 
million ($
1.3
billion in the event of intentional or reckless breach)
 
and would become payable if APLNG fails
 
to
meet its obligations under these agreements and
 
the obligations cannot otherwise be mitigated.
 
Future
payments are considered unlikely, as the payments, or cost of volume delivery, would only be
triggered if APLNG does not have enough natural
 
gas to meet these sales commitments and if
 
the
co-venturers do not make necessary equity contributions
 
into APLNG.
 
 
 
We have guaranteed the performance of APLNG with regard to certain other contracts
 
executed in
connection with the project’s continued development.
 
The guarantees have remaining terms
 
of
16 to
24 years or the life of the venture
.
 
Our maximum potential amount of future payments
 
related to these
guarantees is approximately $
180
 
million and would become payable if APLNG
 
does not perform.
 
At
June 30, 2021, the carrying value of these guarantees
 
was $
11
 
million.
 
 
Other Guarantees
 
We have other guarantees with maximum future potential payment amounts totaling approximately
 
$
740
million, which consist primarily of guarantees
 
of the residual value of leased office buildings, guarantees
 
of the
residual value of corporate aircrafts, and a guarantee
 
for our portion of a joint venture’s project finance reserve
accounts.
 
These guarantees have remaining terms of
two to five years
 
and would become payable if certain
asset values are lower than guaranteed amounts
 
at the end of the lease or contract term, business
 
conditions
decline at guaranteed entities, or as a result of nonperformance
 
of contractual terms by guaranteed parties.
 
At
June 30, 2021, the carrying value of these guarantees
 
was $
11
 
million.
 
 
Indemnifications
Over the years, we have entered into agreements
 
to sell ownership interests in certain
 
legal entities, joint
ventures and assets that gave rise to qualifying
 
indemnifications.
 
These agreements include indemnifications
for taxes and environmental liabilities.
 
Most of these indemnifications are related to
 
tax issues and the
majority of these expire in 2021.
 
Those related to environmental issues have terms
 
that are generally indefinite
and the maximum amounts of future payments are
 
generally unlimited.
The carrying amount recorded for these indemnification
 
obligations at June
30, 2021, was $
50
 
million.
 
We amortize the indemnification liability over the relevant time period the
indemnity is in effect, if one exists, based on the facts
 
and circumstances surrounding each type of indemnity.
 
In cases where the indemnification term is
 
indefinite, we will reverse the liability when
 
we have information
the liability is essentially relieved or amortize
 
the liability over an appropriate time period
 
as the fair value of
our indemnification exposure declines.
 
Although it is reasonably possible future payments
 
may exceed
amounts recorded, due to the nature of the indemnifications,
 
it is not possible to make a reasonable estimate
 
of
the maximum potential amount of future payments.