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Commitments and Contingencies (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Notes To Financial Statements [Abstract]

Recorded Unconditional Purchase Obligations [TextBlock]

The following table illustrates our expected future contractual payments such as debt and lease agreements, and commitments as of December 31, 2011.

							2017 &
In millions	Total	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	thereafter
Recorded contractual obligations:

Long-term debt (1)	$3,431	$0	$225	$0	$200	$545	$2,461
Short-term debt (2)	1,338	1,338	0	0	0	0	0
Pipeline replacement program costs (3)	276	131	145	0	0	0	0
Environmental remediation liabilities (3)	327	37	66	55	45	32	92
Total	$5,372	$1,506	$436	$55	$245	$577	$2,553

Unrecorded Unconditional Purchase Obligations Disclosure [Text Block]

Unrecorded contractual obligations and commitments (4) (9) (10):

Pipeline charges, storage capacity and gas supply (5)	$2,263	$781	$494	$269	$164	$85	$470
Interest charges (6)	2,581	169	161	158	149	137	1,807
Operating leases (7)	220	32	25	20	19	18	106
Asset management agreements (8)	26	11	9	3	2	1	0
Standby letters of credit, performance / surety bonds (9)	22	18	4	0	0	0	0
Other	14	5	3	2	2	2	0
Total	$5,126	$1,016	$696	$452	$336	$243	$2,383

(1)Excludes the $99 million step up to fair value of first mortgage bonds, $18 million unamortized debt premium and $13 million interest rate swaps fair value adjustment.

(2)Includes current portion of long-term debt of $15 million, which matures in June 2012 and current portion of capital leases.

(3)Includes charges recoverable through rate rider mechanisms.

(4)In accordance with GAAP, these items are not reflected in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position.

(5)Includes charges recoverable through a natural gas cost recovery mechanism or alternatively billed to Marketers and demand charges associated with Sequent. The gas supply amount includes amounts for Nicor Gas and SouthStar gas commodity purchase commitments of 67 Bcf at floating gas prices calculated using forward natural gas prices as of December 31, 2011, and is valued at $222 million. As we do for other subsidiaries, we provide guarantees to certain gas suppliers for SouthStar in support of payment obligations.

(6)Floating rate interest charges are calculated based on the interest rate as of December 31, 2011 and the maturity date of the underlying debt instrument. As of December 31, 2011, we have $61 million of accrued interest on our Consolidated Statements of Financial Position that will be paid in 2012.

(7)We have certain operating leases with provisions for step rent or escalation payments and certain lease concessions. We account for these leases by recognizing the future minimum lease payments on a straight-line basis over the respective minimum lease terms, in accordance with authoritative guidance related to leases. However, this lease accounting treatment does not affect the future annual operating lease cash obligations as shown herein. Our operating leases are primarily for real estate.

(8)Represent fixed-fee minimum payments for Sequent’s affiliated asset management agreements.

(9)We provide guarantees to certain municipalities and other agencies and certain gas suppliers of SouthStar in support of payment obligations.

(10)Based on the current funding status of the plans, we would be required to make a minimum contribution to our pension plans of approximately $36 million in 2012. We may make additional contributions in 2012.

Environmental Exit Costs By Cost [Text Block]

The following table provides more information on the costs related to remediation of our former operating sites.

In millions	Cost estimate range	Amount recorded	Expected costs over next twelve months
Illinois	$134 - $216	$134	$19
Georgia and Florida	42 - 98	58	7
New Jersey	124 - 174	124	9
North Carolina	10 - 16	11	2
Total	$310 - $504	$327	$37

Tabular disclosure of unconditional purchase obligations that are recognized as a liability on the balance sheet, including the nature and term of the unconditional purchase obligations; the aggregate amount of payments for each of the five years following the date of the latest balance sheet; and the combined aggregate amount of maturities and sinking fund requirements for all long-term borrowings associated with suppliers' financing arrangements.

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Tabular disclosure of unconditional purchase obligations that are not recognized as a liability on the balance sheet, including the nature and significant terms of an unconditional purchase obligation; the amount of the fixed and determinable portion of the obligation as of the date of the latest balance sheet presented in the aggregate and, if determinable, for each of the five succeeding fiscal years; the nature of any variable components of the obligation; the amount purchased under the obligation (for example, the take-or-pay or throughput contract) for the reporting period; and may include the amount of imputed interest necessary to reduce the obligation to present value.

+ References+ Details