Segment Information

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

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” and “other” business segments 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. Our “other” segment 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 2012 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 Three Months Ended June 30,
In thousands	Utility		Gas Storage		Other			Total
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
2012
Operating revenues	$	95,938	$	7,996	$	57		$	103,991
Depreciation and amortization	16,478		1,621		—			18,099
Income from operations	8,547		3,264		28			11,839
Net income (loss)	130		1,124		(27		)	1,227
Capital expenditures	40,786		319		—			41,105

	Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30,
In thousands	Utility		Gas Storage		Other			Total
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
2012
Operating revenues	$	398,843	$	14,675	$	112		$	413,630
Depreciation and amortization	32,816		3,233		—			36,049
Income from operations	84,511		5,943		51			90,505
Net income (loss)	39,598		1,930		(17		)	41,511
Capital expenditures	60,442		1,110		—			61,552
Total assets at June 30, 2012	2,326,919		287,622		15,909			2,630,450
Total assets at December 31, 2012	2,505,655		291,568		15,897			2,813,120

Utility Margin

Utility margin is a financial measure consisting of utility operating revenues less revenue taxes and the associated cost of gas. By netting fluctuating 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	2013		2012		2013		2012
Utility margin calculation:
Utility operating revenues	$	123,943	$	95,938	$	393,602	$	398,843
Less: Utility cost of gas	59,142		34,498		201,501		204,253
Utility margin	$	64,801	$	61,440	$	192,101	$	194,590