Sunoco 2011 Annual Report Download - page 91

Dividends received from affiliated companies which are accounted for by the equity method amounted to
$12, $16 and $20 million in 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively. Retained earnings at December 31, 2011 include
$28 million of undistributed earnings attributable to these companies.
SunCoke Energy is the operator of a cokemaking plant in Vitória, Brazil and has a total equity interest of
$41 million in the project company that owns the Vitória facility consisting largely of preferred shares. SunCoke
Energy is the sole subscriber of preferred shares. The project company is a variable interest entity for which
SunCoke Energy is not the primary beneficiary.
8. Properties, Plants and Equipment
Properties, plants and equipment (excluding those attributable to the Toledo refinery which are included in
assets held for sale at December 31, 2010) consisted of the following components (in millions of dollars):
Gross
Investments
at Cost
Accumulated
Depreciation,
Depletion
and
Amortization
Net
Investment
December 31, 2011
Logistics ......................................... $ 3,281 $ 751 $2,530
Retail marketing ................................... 1,481 722 759
Refining and supply ................................ 367 178 189
Coke ............................................ 1,881 394 1,487
$ 7,010 $2,045 $4,965
December 31, 2010
Logistics ......................................... $ 2,841 $ 703 $2,138
Retail marketing ................................... 1,388 674 714
Refining and supply ................................ 4,787 2,222 2,565
Discontinued chemicals ............................. 694 269 425
Coke ............................................ 1,553 340 1,213
$11,263 $4,208 $7,055
9. Retirement Benefit Plans
Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Postretirement Health Care Plans
Sunoco has both funded and unfunded noncontributory defined benefit pension plans (“defined benefit
plans”). Sunoco also has plans which provide health care benefits for substantially all of its current retirees
(“postretirement benefit plans”). The postretirement benefit plans are unfunded and the costs are shared by
Sunoco and its retirees. The levels of required retiree contributions to postretirement benefit plans are adjusted
periodically, and the plans contain other cost-sharing features, such as deductibles and coinsurance. In addition,
there is a per retiree dollar cap on Sunoco’s annual contributions for its principal postretirement health care
benefits plan. Effective June 30, 2010, pension benefits under the Company’s defined benefit plans were frozen
for most of the participants in these plans at which time the Company instituted a discretionary profit-sharing
contribution on behalf of these employees in its defined contribution plan. The Company expects that upon its
exit from the refining business, defined benefit plans will be frozen for all participants and no additional benefits
will be earned. Postretirement medical benefits were also phased down or eliminated for all employees retiring
after July 1, 2010. In February 2012, the Company announced that it was establishing a trust for its
postretirement benefit liabilities by making a tax-deductible contribution of approximately $200 million and
restructuring the retiree medical plan to eliminate Sunoco’s liability beyond this funded amount. The retiree
medical plan change eliminates substantially all of the Company’s future exposure to variances between actual
results and assumptions used to estimate retiree medical plan obligations.
83