Post-retirement Plans

In connection with our PCLI acquisition, we agreed to establish employee benefit plans including union and non-union pension plans and a post-retirement healthcare plan for PCLI employees that were previously covered under legacy Suncor plans.

Our agreement with Suncor also provides that pension assets related to the union and non-union pension plans are transferred to a pension trust which we established and are computed in accordance with the share purchase agreement, subject to regulatory approval. The actual asset transfer to our PCLI pension plan trust was a cash transfer that occurred in September 2018.

The net periodic pension expense of these plans consisted of the following components:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,			February 1 to September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
	(in thousands)
Service cost - benefit earned during the period	$	1,093		$	1,013		$	3,337		$	2,596
Interest cost on projected benefit obligations	556			556			1,698			1,424
Expected return on plan assets	(856		)	(802		)	(2,615		)	(2,053		)
Net periodic pension expense	$	793		$	767		$	2,420		$	1,967

The expected long-term annual rate of return on plan assets is 5.75%. This rate was used in measuring 2018 net periodic benefit costs. We expect to contribute $6.4 million to the PCLI pension plans in 2018.

We have a post-retirement healthcare and other benefits plan that is available to certain of our employees who satisfy certain age and service requirements. In addition, we have a post-retirement healthcare and other benefits plan for our PCLI employees. The net periodic benefit credit of these plans consisted of the following components:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2018			2017			2018			2017
	(In thousands)
Service cost – benefit earned during the period	$	411		$	380		$	1,238		$	1,106
Interest cost on projected benefit obligations	234			250			705			714
Amortization of prior service credit	(870		)	(870		)	(2,611		)	(2,610		)
Net periodic post-retirement credit	$	(225	)	$	(240	)	$	(668	)	$	(790	)