v3.21.2
Guarantees
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Guarantees [Abstract]  
Guarantees
Note 9—Guarantees
At September 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 September 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 September
 
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
9
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 September 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
 
Limited in
October 2008, we agreed to reimburse
 
Origin Energy Limited 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 $
670
 
million ($
1.2
 
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
15 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
September 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
 
$
720
 
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
one 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 September
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,
lease commitments and environmental
 
liabilities.
 
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 September 30, 2021, was $
30
 
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.
for
additional information about environmental
 
liabilities
.