Segment Information

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

Segment Information [Text Block]

4. SEGMENT INFORMATION

We operate in two primary reportable business segments: local gas distribution and gas storage. We also have other investments and business activities not specifically related to one of these two reporting segments, which we aggregate and report as other. We refer to our local gas distribution business as the utility, and our gas storage segment and other as non-utility. Our utility segment also includes NWN Gas Reserves, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Corp, and the utility portion of our Mist underground storage facility in Oregon (Mist). Our gas storage segment includes NWN Gas Storage, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NWN Energy, Gill Ranch, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NWN Gas Storage, the non-utility portion of Mist, and all third-party asset management services. Other includes NNG Financial and NWN Energy's equity investment in PGH, which is pursuing development of a cross-Cascades pipeline project. See Note 4 in our 2013 Form 10-K for further discussion of our segments.

The following table presents summary financial information concerning the reportable segments; inter-segment transactions are insignificant:

	Three Months Ended June 30,
In thousands	Utility		Gas Storage			Other		Total
2014
Operating revenues	$	128,075	$	5,038		$	56	$	133,169
Depreciation and amortization	18,087		1,622			—		19,709
Income from operations	13,735		(485		)	16		13,266
Net income (loss)	2,205		(1,157		)	23		1,071
Capital expenditures	26,726		175			—		26,901
2013
Operating revenues	$	123,943	$	7,715		$	56	$	131,714
Depreciation and amortization	17,311		1,619			—		18,930
Income from operations	9,437		3,625			21		13,083
Net income	657		1,452			17		2,126
Capital expenditures	32,134		247			—		32,381

	Six Months Ended June 30,
In thousands	Utility		Gas Storage		Other			Total
2014
Operating revenues	$	413,570	$	12,873	$	112		$	426,555
Depreciation and amortization	36,054		3,244		—			39,298
Income from operations	85,192		3,068		34			88,294
Net income	38,224		470		261			38,955
Capital expenditures	52,076		413		—			52,489
Total assets at June 30, 2014	2,487,771		282,939		16,404			2,787,114
2013
Operating revenues	$	393,602	$	15,861	$	112		$	409,575
Depreciation and amortization	34,499		3,238		—			37,737
Income from operations	79,665		7,582		42			87,289
Net income (loss)	36,688		3,088		(11		)	39,765
Capital expenditures	54,522		533		—			55,055
Total assets at June 30, 2013	2,469,320		287,341		15,928			2,772,589
Total assets at December 31, 2013	2,644,367		310,097		16,447			2,970,911

Utility Margin

Utility margin is a financial measure consisting of utility operating revenues less revenue taxes and the associated cost of gas. The cost of gas purchased for utility customers is generally a pass-through cost in the amount of revenues billed to regulated utility customers. By subtracting costs of gas from utility operating revenues, utility margin provides a key metric used by our chief operating decision maker in assessing the performance of the utility segment. The following table presents additional segment information concerning utility margin. The gas storage and other segments emphasize growth in operating revenues and net income as opposed to margin because these segments do not incur commodity cost of sales like the utility and, therefore, use operating revenues and net income to assess performance.

	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
In thousands	2014		2013		2014		2013
Utility margin calculation:
Utility operating revenues	$	128,075	$	123,943	$	413,570	$	393,602
Less: Utility cost of gas	58,280		59,142		213,481		201,501
Utility margin	$	69,795	$	64,801	$	200,089	$	192,101