Property, Plant, and Equipment |
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Dec. 31, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Property, Plant and Equipment [Text Block] | Note 11 – Property, Plant, and Equipment The following table presents nonregulated and regulated Property, plant, and equipment – net as presented on the Consolidated Balance Sheet for the years ended:
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Depreciation and amortization expense for Property, plant, and equipment – net was $1,407 million, $1,382 million, and $967 million in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. Regulated Property, plant, and equipment – net includes approximately $665 million and $706 million at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, related to amounts in excess of the original cost of the regulated facilities within our gas pipeline businesses as a result of our prior acquisitions. This amount is being amortized over 40 years using the straight-line amortization method. Current FERC policy does not permit recovery through rates for amounts in excess of original cost of construction. Asset Retirement Obligations Our accrued obligations relate to underground storage caverns, offshore platforms and pipelines, fractionation and compression facilities, gas gathering well connections and pipelines, and gas transmission pipelines and facilities. At the end of the useful life of each respective asset, we are legally obligated to plug storage caverns and remove any related surface equipment, to restore land and remove surface equipment at gas processing, fractionation, and compression facilities, to dismantle offshore platforms and appropriately abandon offshore pipelines, to cap certain gathering pipelines at the wellhead connection and remove any related surface equipment, and to remove certain components of gas transmission facilities from the ground. The following table presents the significant changes to our ARO, of which $801 million and $858 million are included in Regulatory liabilities, deferred income, and other with the remaining current portion in Accrued liabilities at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
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The funds Transco collects through a portion of its rates to fund its ARO are deposited into an external trust account dedicated to funding its ARO (ARO Trust). (See Note 17 – Fair Value Measurements, Guarantees, and Concentration of Credit Risk.) Under its current rate settlement, Transco’s annual funding obligation is approximately $36 million, with installments to be deposited monthly. |