3M, in the normal course of business, periodically enters into agreements that require the Company to indemnify either major customers or suppliers for specific risks, such as claims for injury or property damage arising out of the use of 3M products or the negligence of 3M personnel, or claims alleging that 3M products infringe third-party patents or other intellectual property. While 3M’s maximum exposure under these indemnification provisions cannot be estimated, these indemnifications are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated results of operations or financial condition.

 

A summary of the Company’s significant contractual obligations as of December 31, 2014, follows:

 

Contractual Obligations

 

Long-term debt payments due in 2015, 2016 and 2017 include floating rate notes totaling $55 million (classified as current portion of long-term debt), $71 million (included in other borrowings in the long-term debt table), and $96 million (included as a separate floating rate note in the long-term debt table), respectively, as a result of put provisions associated with these debt instruments. Interest projections on both floating and fixed rate long-term debt, including the effects of interest rate swaps, are based on effective interest rates as of December 31, 2014.

 

Unconditional purchase obligations are defined as an agreement to purchase goods or services that is enforceable and legally binding on the Company. Included in the unconditional purchase obligations category above are certain obligations related to take or pay contracts, capital commitments, service agreements and utilities. These estimates include both unconditional purchase obligations with terms in excess of one year and normal ongoing purchase obligations with terms of less than one year. Many of these commitments relate to take or pay contracts, in which 3M guarantees payment to ensure availability of products or services that are sold to customers. The Company expects to receive consideration (products or services) for these unconditional purchase obligations. Contractual capital commitments are included in the preceding table, but these commitments represent a small part of the Company’s expected capital spending in 2014 and beyond. The purchase obligation amounts do not represent the entire anticipated purchases in the future, but represent only those items for which the Company is contractually obligated. The majority of 3M’s products and services are purchased as needed, with no unconditional commitment. For this reason, these amounts will not provide a reliable indicator of the Company’s expected future cash outflows on a stand-alone basis.

 

Other obligations, included in the preceding table within the caption entitled “Unconditional purchase obligations and other,” include the current portion of the liability for uncertain tax positions under ASC 740, which is expected to be paid out in cash in the next 12 months. The Company is not able to reasonably estimate the timing of the long-term payments or the amount by which the liability will increase or decrease over time; therefore, the long-term portion of the net tax liability