Guarantees and Indemnifications
We have various financial guarantees and indemnifications which are issued in the normal course of business. As discussed below, these contracts include financial guarantees, stand-by letters of credit, debt guarantees, surety bonds and indemnifications. We enter into these arrangements to facilitate a commercial transaction with a third party by enhancing the value of the transaction to the third party. To varying degrees, these guarantees involve elements of performance and credit risk, which are not included on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. The possibility of having to perform under these guarantees and indemnifications is largely dependent upon future operations of various subsidiaries, investees and other third parties, or the occurrence of certain future events.
We have issued performance guarantees to customers and other third parties that guarantee the payment and performance of other parties, including certain non-100%-owned entities. In connection with our spin-off from Duke Energy in 2007, certain guarantees that were previously issued by us were assigned to, or replaced by, Duke Energy as guarantor in 2006. For any remaining guarantees of other Duke Energy obligations, Duke Energy has indemnified us against any losses incurred under these guarantee arrangements. The maximum potential amount of future payments we could have been required to make under these performance guarantees as of December 31, 2013 was approximately $406 million, which has been indemnified by Duke Energy as discussed above. One of these outstanding performance guarantees, which has a maximum potential amount of future payment of $201 million, expires in 2028. The remaining guarantees have no contractual expirations.
We have also issued joint and several guarantees to some of the Duke/Fluor Daniel (D/FD) project owners, guaranteeing the performance of D/FD under its engineering, procurement and construction contracts and other contractual commitments in place at the time of our spin-off from Duke Energy. D/FD is one of the entities transferred to Duke Energy in connection with our spin-off. Substantially all of these guarantees have no contractual expiration and no stated maximum amount of future payments that we could be required to make. Fluor Enterprises Inc., as 50% owner in D/FD, issued similar joint and several guarantees to the same D/FD project owners.
Westcoast, a 100%-owned subsidiary, has issued performance guarantees to third parties guaranteeing the performance of unconsolidated entities, such as equity method investments, and of entities previously sold by Westcoast to third parties. Those guarantees require Westcoast to make payment to the guaranteed third party upon the failure of such unconsolidated or sold entity to make payment under some of its contractual obligations, such as debt agreements, purchase contracts and leases. Certain guarantees that were previously issued by Westcoast for obligations of entities that remained a part of Duke Energy are considered guarantees of third party performance; however, Duke Energy has indemnified us against any losses incurred under these guarantee arrangements.
We have entered into various indemnification agreements related to purchase and sale agreements and other types of contractual agreements with vendors and other third parties. These agreements typically cover environmental, litigation and other matters, as well as breaches of representations, warranties and covenants. Typically, claims may be made by third parties for various periods of time depending on the nature of the claim. Our potential exposure under these indemnification agreements can range from a specified amount, such as the purchase price, to an unlimited dollar amount, depending on the nature of the claim and the particular transaction. We are unable to estimate the total potential amount of future payments under these indemnification agreements due to several factors, such as the unlimited exposure under certain guarantees.
As of December 31, 2013, the amounts recorded for the guarantees and indemnifications described above are not material, both individually and in the aggregate. See also Note 6 for discussion of indemnifications to Duke Energy of certain income tax liabilities.
