2012 Annual Report - Stone Energy Corporation

ules could result in significant costs, including increased capital expenditures and operating costs, and could adversely impact ourbusiness.We have made, and will continue to make, expenditures in our effort to comply with environmental laws and regulations. Webelieve that we are in substantial compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations in effect and that continuedcompliance with existing requirements will not have a material adverse impact on us. However, we also believe that it isreasonably likely that the trend in environmental legislation and regulation will continue toward stricter standards and, thus, wecannot give any assurance that we will not be adversely affected in the future.We have established internal guidelines to be followed in order to comply with environmental laws and regulations in theUnited States. We employ a safety department whose responsibilities include providing assurance that our operations are carriedout in accordance with applicable environmental guidelines and safety precautions. Although we maintain pollution insurance tocover a portion of the costs of cleanup operations, public liability and physical damage, there is no assurance that such insurancewill be adequate to cover all such costs or that such insurance will continue to be available in the future. To date, we believe thatcompliance with existing requirements of such governmental bodies has not had a material effect on our operations.EmployeesOn February 21, 2013, we had 386 full-time employees. We believe that our relationships with our employees are satisfactory.None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We utilize the services of independent contractors toperform various daily operational duties.Available InformationWe make available free of charge on our Internet web-site (www.stoneenergy.com) our Annual Report on Form 10-K,Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“Exchange Act”), and amendments to such filings, as soon as reasonablypracticable after each are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We alsomake available on our Internet web-site our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Corporate Governance Guidelines and Audit,Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committee Charters, which have been approved by our board of directors. Wewill make timely disclosure by a Current Report on Form 8-K and on our web-site of any change to, or waiver from, the Code ofBusiness Conduct and Ethics for our principal executive and senior financial officers. A copy of our Code of Business Conductand Ethics is also available free of charge by writing us at: Chief Financial Officer, Stone Energy Corporation, P.O. Box 52807,Lafayette, LA 70505. The annual CEO certification required by Section 303A.12 of the New York Stock Exchange ListedCompany Manual was submitted on June 5, 2012.Forward-Looking StatementsThe information in this Form 10-K includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the SecuritiesAct of 1933, as amended (“Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All statements, other than statements ofhistorical or current facts, that address activities, events, outcomes and other matters that we plan, expect, intend, assume, believe,budget, predict, forecast, project, estimate or anticipate (and other similar expressions) will, should or may occur in the future areforward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current belief, based on currentlyavailable information, as to the outcome and timing of future events. When considering forward-looking statements, you shouldkeep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in this Form 10-K.Forward-looking statements appear in a number of places and include statements with respect to, among other things:any expected results or benefits associated with our acquisitions;expected results from risked weighted drilling success;estimates of our future oil and natural gas production, including estimates of any increases in oil and gas production;planned capital expenditures and the availability of capital resources to fund capital expenditures;our outlook on oil and gas prices;estimates of our oil and gas reserves;any estimates of future earnings growth;the impact of political and regulatory developments;our outlook on the resolution of pending litigation and government inquiry;estimates of the impact of new accounting pronouncements on earnings in future periods;9