Revenue Recognition Revenue Recognition (Tables)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Contract with Customer, Asset and Liability [Table Text Block]

The following table presents a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances of our contract liabilities for the three months ended March 31, 2018:



	2018
	(Thousands)
Balance at January 1	$	247,296
Payments received and deferred	—
Recognized in revenue	(2,638		)
Balance at March 31	$	244,658

Contract with Customer, Liablity Expected Timing of Revenue Recognition [Table Text Block]

The following table presents the amount of the contract liabilities balance as of March 31, 2018, expected to be recognized as revenue in each of the next five years as performance obligations are expected to be satisfied:



	(Thousands)
2018 (remainder)	$	7,928
2019	10,566
2020	10,568
2021	10,566
2022	10,566
2023	10,566
Thereafter	183,898

Revenue, Remaining Performance Obligation, Expected Timing of Satisfaction [Table Text Block]

The following table presents the transaction price allocated to the remaining performance obligations under certain contracts as of March 31, 2018. These primarily include reservation charges on contracted capacity on our firm transportation and storage contracts with customers. Amounts from certain contracts included in the table below, which are subject to the periodic review and approval by the FERC, reflect the rates for such services in our current FERC tariffs for the life of the related contracts; however, these rates may change based on future tariffs approved by the FERC and the amount and timing of these changes is not currently known. As a practical expedient permitted by ASC 606, this table excludes the variable consideration component for commodity charges and consideration received prior to March 31, 2018, that will be recognized in future periods (see above for Contract Liabilities and the expected recognition of those amounts within revenue). As noted above, certain of our contracts contain evergreen provisions for periods beyond the initial term of the contract. The remaining performance obligation as of March 31, 2018, does not consider potential future performance obligations for which the renewal has not been exercised. The table below also does not include contracts with customers for which the underlying facilities have not received FERC authorization to be placed into service.



	(Thousands)
2018 (remainder)	$	1,284,187
2019	1,576,306
2020	1,482,893
2021	1,205,683
2022	1,095,132
2023	961,398
Thereafter	8,308,794
Total	$	15,914,393