LNG

Williams Companies, the North American pipeline natural gas and storage and gathering operator, increased quarterly and annual earnings because of a litigation gain from US peer Energy Transfer as well as from positive returns from derivatives as it also pledged to supply additional feed-gas for LNG exports with multiple projects making regulatory progress.

Williams Companies, a leading US natural gas pipelines operator with projects aimed at boosting feed-gas supplies for Gulf Coast LNG export plants, has reached an agreement to acquire a portfolio of natural gas storage assets from an affiliate of Hartree Partners LP for $1.95 billion.

Williams Companies, a leading US natural gas pipelines operator with projects aimed at boosting feed-gas supplies for Gulf Coast LNG export plants, successfully closed two strategic transactions that now position the company as the third-largest gatherer in the Denver-Julesburg Basin.

Williams Companies, a leading US natural gas pipelines operator, has outlined plans for supplying more feed-gas for liquefied natural gas export plants on the Gulf Coast and to meet the nation’s growing needs for gas-fired power.

Williams, the US pipelines company and growing LNG sector participant, reported a surge in first-quarter net profits and cash flow from record natural gas-gathering volumes and contracted capacity.

Chevron Corp., the US major with large overseas liquefied natural gas interests, has signed an accord on US natural gas development for Gulf Coast LNG feed-gas pipeline volumes from the prolific Haynesville Basin as well as for oil and gas in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico with pipelines group Williams.

The agreement involves Williams providing natural gas gathering services to Chevron’s 26,000-acre Haynesville assets while Chevron has agreed to a long-term capacity commitment on the Louisiana Energy Gateway project led by Williams.

The Williams-led Louisiana Energy Gateway project is designed to gather gas in the Haynesville and connect to markets, including the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) and LNG exports.

The Gateway project is designed to gather “responsibly-sourced natural gas” produced in the Haynesville for growing industrial and LNG export demand along the Gulf Coast.

Additionally, Williams has agreed to use existing infrastructure to serve increased production from the Blind Faith platform, located 160 miles southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico.

US and overseas

“This is a great example of Williams and Chevron working together to accelerate the development and delivery of natural gas to supply affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy both here in the United States and overseas,” said Alan Armstrong, President and Chief Executive of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams.

“We are proud to take another step in advancing the output potential of two of the most prolific production areas in North America,” stated Armstrong.

Chevron has a large overseas portfolio as well as its US natural gas interests, including operatorships of the Australian Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG export plants in Western Australia as well as the Angola plant in southwest Africa.

Williams handles one-third of natural gas supplies in the US with major positions in the main supply basins through its ownership of more than 32,000 miles of pipelines, including Transco, the nation’s largest-volume system.

As part of the Haynesville agreement, Williams said it planned to construct a greenfield gathering system in support of Chevron’s acreage with connectivity to the Williams Gateway project.

Gateway schedule

The Gateway project is expected to go into service in 2024 and is a key component of the Williams lower-carbon, wellhead-to-water strategy.

Williams noted that the Gateway project is ideally positioned to incorporate carbon-capture and storage as a further decarbonizing solution for natural gas production in the rapidly growing Haynesville basin.

In the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Chevron is developing the Ballymore tieback to the Blind Faith platform.

The project, which involves three production wells tied back via one flowline to the nearby Blind Faith facility, has a design capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Using existing connections to Blind Faith, Williams will provide offshore natural gas gathering and crude oil transportation services as well as onshore natural gas processing services for the production.

Chevron is the operator of the Ballymore project with a 60 percent working interest. The co-owner is French major TotalEnergies with a 40 percent working interest.

Williams, the US pipelines company and growing LNG sector participant, has closed the acquisition of MountainWest Pipelines Holding Company from Southwest Gas Holdings in a deal worth $1.5 billion and for a network covering three states.

Williams paid $1.07Bln in cash and $430 million of assumed debt for the MountainWest system

It comprises around 2,000-miles of interstate natural gas pipelines primarily located across Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.

The MountainWest pipelines carry 8 billion cubic feet per day of transmission capacity.

MountainWest also operates 56 Bcf of total storage capacity, including the Clay Basin underground storage reservoir, providing working gas to Western markets.

With the acquisition of MountainWest, Williams expands its infrastructure network and increases its business mix of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-regulated natural gas transmission and storage.

Williams said the acquisition starts up the company’s services in the key Rockies gas markets, including natural gas delivery into Salt Lake City and other demand markets not previously served by Williams.

Natural gas focus

“Our natural gas focused strategy is anchored in having the right assets in the right places to serve our nation’s growing demand for clean, affordable and abundant natural gas,” said Alan Armstrong, the President and Chief Executive of Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams.

“This acquisition enhances our position in the Western US and is complementary to our current footprint, providing us with infrastructure for natural gas deliveries across key demand markets,” explained Armstrong.

“With the acquisition now complete, we look forward to welcoming MountainWest employees to Williams and bringing value to our shareholders by delivering safe and reliable services to both Williams and MountainWest customers as we increase the utilization of our existing large-scale platforms,” added the CEO.

Williams is also expanding its LNG activities and in mid-November 2022 said it had entered into a non-binding heads of agreement with Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of California utility Sempra, to further connect the Haynesville shale basin to growing LNG export demand along the Gulf Coast .

The accord contemplates long-term gas sales of about 0.5 billion cubic feet per day delivered to near Gillis, Louisiana, and two LNG offtake agreements for around 3 million tonnes per annum in the aggregate from Sempra Infrastructure’s proposed Cameron LNG expansion and Port Arthur LNG project in Texas.

Williams said these proposed Sempra transactions complement the recently sanctioned low-carbon Louisiana Energy Gateway gathering project.

Williams, the US natural gas and energy pipelines company with growing LNG interests, has reached an agreement to acquire MountainWest Pipelines Holding Company from Southwest Gas Holdings in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.

US LNG company Sempra Infrastructure, the owner of the Cameron export plant in Louisiana and developer of the Port Arthur project in Texas and other ventures in Mexico, has signed a cooperation accord with US pipelines group Williams Companies.

Williams Companies, the US natural gas pipelines and assets operator, has agreed a $950 million deal to expand its East Texas presence in the Haynesville Shale and giving more access to Gulf Coast LNG markets.