04-HP-876_newMDA.qxd 12/15/04 3:04 PM Page 78 In May 2003, the Company signed a six-year lease for approximately 114,000 square feet of office space near downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Company also conducts certain operations in leased premises and leases telecommunication equipment. Futur minimum lease payments required under noncancelable operating leases as of September 30, 2004 are as follows (in thousands): The Company operates principally in the contract drilling industry. The Company’s contract drilling business includes the following operating segments: U.S. Land, U.S. Offshore Platform, and International. The contract drilling operations consist primarily of contracting Company-owned drilling equipment primarily to major oil and gas exploration companies. The Company’ primary international areas of operation include Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. The Company also has a Real Estate segment whose operations are conducted exclusively in the metropolitan area of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The primary areas of operations include a major shopping center and several multi-tenant warehouses. Each repor table segment is a strategic business unit which is managed separately Other includes investments and corporate operations. As described in Note 2, the Company’s oil and gas operations were distributed to Company shar eholders on September 30, 2002. Such operations have been treated as discontinued operations and have been excluded from these segment disclosures. The Company evaluates performance of its segments based upon operating profit or loss from operations before income taxes which includes revenues from external and internal customers; direct operating costs; depreciation; and allocated general and administrative costs; but excludes corporate costs for other depreciation and other income and expense. General and administrative costs ar e allocated to the segments based primarily on specific identification, and to the extent that such identification was not practical, on other methods which the Company believes to be a reasonable reflection of the utilization of services provided. The accounting policies of the  segments ar the same as those described in Note 1, Summary of Accounting Policies. Intersegment sales  are accounted for in the same manner as sales to unaf filiated customers. 79 Total rent expense was $2.0 million, $1.1 million and $1.0 million for 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively. NOTE 15 SEGMENT INFORMATION  LEASES Fiscal Year Amount 2005 $ 2,542 2006 2,261 2007 1,844 2008 1,412 2009 1,408 Thereafter 462 Total $ 9,929