The Company and its domestic subsidiaries file a consolidated United States income tax return. Certain subsidiaries’ operations are also subject to foreign income taxes.

Provision for income taxes consists of the following:

The primary differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities at December 31, 2013 and 2012 are as follows: (In thousands)

The Company’s unused foreign tax credits will start to expire between the years 2017 and 2023. The alternative minimum tax credits do not expire, and foreign net operating losses (“NOL”) are not subject to expiry dates. The NOL for the Company’s UK subsidiary can be carried forward indefinitely, while the NOLs for the Company’s Gabon and Angola subsidiaries are included in the respective subsidiaries’ cost oil accounts, which will be offset against future taxable revenues.  Management assesses the available positive and negative evidence to estimate if existing deferred tax assets will be utilized.  The Company does not anticipate utilization of the foreign tax credits prior to expiration nor does the Company expect to generate sufficient taxable income to utilize other deferred tax assets.  On the basis of this evaluation, a valuation allowance of $137.3 million and $99.6 million has been recorded as of December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively, to reduce the deferred tax asset to the amount that is more likely than not to be realized. 

Under U.S. tax law, certain foreign taxes paid under arrangements such as the Company’s Production Sharing Contracts (“PSCs”) may not be eligible to be claimed as foreign tax credits and are instead treated as deductible royalties.  During the year, the Company engaged outside advisors to analyze the facts and circumstances surrounding the creditability of the foreign taxes paid to the Republic of Gabon pursuant to its PSC. Based on the advice provided by these outside advisors, the Company has revised its estimate of foreign tax credit carryovers to reflect an increase of $28.0 million. The increase in deferred tax asset for foreign tax credits was fully offset by an increase in the valuation allowance.

Pretax income (loss) is comprised of the following:

The statutory rate reconciliation is as follows:

At December 31, 2013, the Company was subject to foreign and United States federal taxes only, with no allocations made to state and local taxes.

The following table summarizes the tax years that remain subject to examination by major tax jurisdictions: