Regulatory Matters	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]
Regulatory Matters	4. Regulatory Matters Trunkline LNG commenced construction of an enhancement at its LNG terminal in February 2007. The key components of the enhancement are an ambient air vaporizer system and NGL recovery units. On March 11, 2010, Trunkline LNG received approval from FERC to place the infrastructure enhancement construction project in service. Total construction costs were approximately $440 million plus capitalized interest, which includes additional costs incurred during final commissioning. The negotiated rate with the project's customer, BG LNG Services, has been adjusted based on final capital costs pursuant to a contract-based formula. In addition, Trunkline LNG and BG LNG Services have extended the existing terminal and pipeline services agreements to coincide with the infrastructure enhancement construction project contract, which runs 20 years from the in-service date. On August 31, 2009, Sea Robin filed with FERC to implement a rate surcharge to recover Hurricane Ike-related costs not otherwise recovered from insurance proceeds or from other third parties. The surcharge is primarily related to recovery of property, plant and equipment costs. On September 30, 2009, FERC approved the surcharge to be effective March 1, 2010, subject to refund and the outcome of hearings with FERC to explore issues set forth in certain customer protests, including the costs to be included and the applicability of the surcharge to discounted contracts. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an initial decision on December 13, 2010, approving the surcharge for recovery from all shippers, including discounted and non-discounted shippers, over a recovery period of 21.4 years and including applicable carrying charges. The Company, as well as other parties, filed briefs for exception on certain aspects of the decision. On December 15, 2011, FERC issued an order changing the 21.4 year recovery period to a four-year recovery period and held that the commencement of carrying charges should begin the later of August 31, 2009 and the date the associated cost is incurred. FERC also determined that Sea Robin's discount agreements with certain shippers permit it to recover the surcharge from those shippers. In December 2011, Sea Robin reversed all outstanding reserves for refund associated with the surcharge filing, approximately $17.7 million of which had been reserved as of September 30, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, Sea Robin has incurred approximately $44 million of costs remaining to be recovered via the surcharge, including carrying charges and net of insurance and surcharge recoveries to date. In October 2011, Trunkline and Sea Robin jointly filed with FERC to transfer all of Trunkline's offshore facilities, and certain related onshore facilities, by abandonment and sale to Sea Robin to consolidate and streamline the ownership and operation of all regulated offshore assets under one entity and better position the offshore assets competitively. Several parties have filed interventions and protests of this filing. The Company is responding to information requests from FERC on this filing. The transfer is subject to approval by FERC. In November 2011, FERC commenced an audit of PEPL to evaluate its compliance with the Uniform System of Accounts as prescribed by FERC, annual and quarterly financial reporting to FERC, reservation charge crediting policy and record retention. The audit is related to the period from January 1, 2010 to present and is estimated to take approximately one year to complete. On December 15, 2003, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule requiring pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs to comprehensively evaluate their pipelines, and take measures to protect pipeline segments located in what the rule defines as HCAs. This rule resulted from the enactment of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. The rule requires operators to identify HCAs along their pipelines and to complete baseline integrity assessments, comprised of in-line inspection (smart pigging), hydrostatic testing or direct assessment, by December 2012. Operators were required to rank the risk of their pipeline segments containing HCAs; assessments are generally conducted on the higher risk segments first. In addition, some system modifications will be necessary to accommodate the in-line inspections. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had completed approximately 93 percent of the baseline risk assessments required to be completed by December 2012. While identification and location of all the HCAs has been completed, it is not practicable to determine with certainty the total scope of required remediation activities prior to completion of the assessments and inspections. The required modifications and inspections are currently estimated to be in the range of approximately $20 million to $30 million per year through 2012.

Regulatory Matters

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]

4. Regulatory Matters

Trunkline LNG commenced construction of an enhancement at its LNG terminal in February 2007. The key components of the enhancement are an ambient air vaporizer system and NGL recovery units. On March 11, 2010, Trunkline LNG received approval from FERC to place the infrastructure enhancement construction project in service. Total construction costs were approximately $440 million plus capitalized interest, which includes additional costs incurred during final commissioning. The negotiated rate with the project's customer, BG LNG Services, has been adjusted based on final capital costs pursuant to a contract-based formula. In addition, Trunkline LNG and BG LNG Services have extended the existing terminal and pipeline services agreements to coincide with the infrastructure enhancement construction project contract, which runs 20 years from the in-service date.

On August 31, 2009, Sea Robin filed with FERC to implement a rate surcharge to recover Hurricane Ike-related costs not otherwise recovered from insurance proceeds or from other third parties. The surcharge is primarily related to recovery of property, plant and equipment costs. On September 30, 2009, FERC approved the surcharge to be effective March 1, 2010, subject to refund and the outcome of hearings with FERC to explore issues set forth in certain customer protests, including the costs to be included and the applicability of the surcharge to discounted contracts. The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an initial decision on December 13, 2010, approving the surcharge for recovery from all shippers, including discounted and non-discounted shippers, over a recovery period of 21.4 years and including applicable carrying charges. The Company, as well as other parties, filed briefs for exception on certain aspects of the decision. On December 15, 2011, FERC issued an order changing the 21.4 year recovery period to a four-year recovery period and held that the commencement of carrying charges should begin the later of August 31, 2009 and the date the associated cost is incurred. FERC also determined that Sea Robin's discount agreements with certain shippers permit it to recover the surcharge from those shippers.

In December 2011, Sea Robin reversed all outstanding reserves for refund associated with the surcharge filing, approximately $17.7 million of which had been reserved as of September 30, 2011. As of December 31, 2011, Sea Robin has incurred approximately $44 million of costs remaining to be recovered via the surcharge, including carrying charges and net of insurance and surcharge recoveries to date.

In October 2011, Trunkline and Sea Robin jointly filed with FERC to transfer all of Trunkline's offshore facilities, and certain related onshore facilities, by abandonment and sale to Sea Robin to consolidate and streamline the ownership and operation of all regulated offshore assets under one entity and better position the offshore assets competitively. Several parties have filed interventions and protests of this filing. The Company is responding to information requests from FERC on this filing. The transfer is subject to approval by FERC.

In November 2011, FERC commenced an audit of PEPL to evaluate its compliance with the Uniform System of Accounts as prescribed by FERC, annual and quarterly financial reporting to FERC, reservation charge crediting policy and record retention. The audit is related to the period from January 1, 2010 to present and is estimated to take approximately one year to complete.

On December 15, 2003, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule requiring pipeline operators to develop integrity management programs to comprehensively evaluate their pipelines, and take measures to protect pipeline segments located in what the rule defines as HCAs. This rule resulted from the enactment of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. The rule requires operators to identify HCAs along their pipelines and to complete baseline integrity assessments, comprised of in-line inspection (smart pigging), hydrostatic testing or direct assessment, by December 2012. Operators were required to rank the risk of their pipeline segments containing HCAs; assessments are generally conducted on the higher risk segments first. In addition, some system modifications will be necessary to accommodate the in-line inspections. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had completed approximately 93 percent of the baseline risk assessments required to be completed by December 2012. While identification and location of all the HCAs has been completed, it is not practicable to determine with certainty the total scope of required remediation activities prior to completion of the assessments and inspections. The required modifications and inspections are currently estimated to be in the range of approximately $20 million to $30 million per year through 2012.