Williams

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC
February 6, 2017February 9, 2017

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline map – click for larger version

Friday saw a flurry of activity at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–the federal agency in charge of evaluating and authorizing interstate pipeline projects. Today is FERC-day on MDN, because there was so much news from Friday! Perhaps the most important news coming out of a list of approvals was FERC’s final blessing on Williams’ $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–a 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. In addition to the pipeline, two new compressor stations will get built, and when the whole thing is done, an extra 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of northeast PA Marcellus Shale gas (from Cabot Oil & Gas and Seneca Resources) will flow south. On Friday, FERC issued a final certificate for the project, allowing Williams to build it. We can’t wait until Williams goes through and knocks down the magic tree house built by environmental wackos in an attempt to stop the project (see PA Antis Build 2nd Magic Tree House to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe). That’ll make for some great headlines when it happens. However, Williams isn’t starting up the bulldozers just yet. Before they can begin, Williams still needs permits from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, permits from PA & the Army Corps is perfunctory. It’s now over. The antis have lost and the good guys have finally scored a victory! Construction will begin on the main portion of the pipeline in mid-2017…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Williams

Williams Confirms Transco Now Ships Gas Directly to Cheniere LNG
February 2, 2017February 2, 2017

Click image for larger version

Last week word leaked that the mighty Williams Transco pipeline was connected directly to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana (see Speculation: Transco Sending M-U Gas to Louisiana LNG Terminal). Since Transco is now bidirectional, we theorized that at least some Marcellus/Utica gas is flowing through that new pipe. The new section of Transco’s pipeline connected to Sabine Pass is called Gulf Trace. Yesterday Williams finally admitted that yes, that pipeline is now up and running and flowing natural gas to Sabine Pass for export–about four months ahead of schedule…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Pipelines | Williams

Williams CEO Says M-U Production Will Grow 65% in 5 Yrs
January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

Hart Energy’s Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference and Exhibition was held this week in Pittsburgh. Although MDN could not be there in person, there are plenty of reports about what was said. Perhaps the most interesting we’ve read are comments by keynoter Alan Armstrong, CEO of Williams. Among the startling remarks Armstrong made: He expects natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica to grow by 65% over the next five years–from 23 to 38 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Yikes! He also said there are currently 60 rigs operating in the M-U, which is “not nearly enough.” In order to meet growing demand, Armstrong says some 100 rigs are needed. Double yikes! Here’s some more pickings from what was said at the conference…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Williams

Union Thinks Trump Will be Good for Constitution Pipeline
January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

Labor unions, typically big Democrat supporters, are increasingly in love with Donald J. Trump. Why? Because Trump (unlike Barack Obama) is actually pushing ahead with major infrastructure project improvements. He has a list of 50 such high-priority projects (see Hope: Atlantic Coast Pipe on Trump List of High Priority Projects). As we previously reported, Trump signed executive orders earlier this week to restart the momentum on two important pipeline projects: Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline (see Trump Signs Executives Orders to Restart DAPL, Keystone XL Pipes). Unions love it because projects like those two pipelines use union workers. Which has union workers in our neighborhood excited. Laborers’ Local 157 in Schenectady, NY believes Trump’s emphasis on pipeline projects will (hopefully) bleed over to the stalled Constitution Pipeline, a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY carrying Marcellus gas. Not to douse their enthusiasm for Trump and the Constitution project, but the issue is in court and Trump won’t, according to a Constitution spokesman, be able to magically clear a way for the project to get started…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Speculation: Transco Sending M-U Gas to Louisiana LNG Terminal
January 25, 2017January 25, 2017

Over a year ago the mighty Transco turned bidirectional, sometimes sending gas northward from the Gulf (as it’s done for 50 years), and now, sometimes sending gas from the Marcellus/Utica southward, to the Gulf. Much more gas will head south once the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project gets built (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity). However, from various stories we’ve read, and from our speculation, we’ve assumed that at least some Marcellus/Utica gas now flows far enough south that perhaps some of it reaches the Cheniere Energy LNG export facility in Sabine Pass, Louisiana (see LNG Slowly Changing the NatGas Game in the Marcellus/Utica). Until now, the gas traveling from north to south has only made it as far as the Creole Trail pipeline and from there Creole Trail would conduct the gas to Cheniere’s LNG plant in Sabine Pass. But beginning yesterday Transco is now connected directly to the Sabine Pass facility. We have to confess this is speculation on our part, but we don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that Marcellus/Utica gas is now flowing to Sabine Pass for export. And if our gas is not now flowing to Sabine Pass, it soon will be. Here’s our evidence…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Williams Transco Pipeline Breaks Flow Volume Record in January
January 19, 2017August 4, 2021

Transco Pipeline Map – click for larger version

The mighty Transco (Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co) is considered the crown jewel of pipeline systems (see Would Williams Sell Its “Crown Jewel” (Transco)? You Bet Your Shoes!). Transco is 10,200 miles long, running from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. Williams, owner of Transco, is in the process of expanding the system in Pennsylvania with the Atlantic Sunrise project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity). The expansion can’t happen soon enough. Earlier this month the mighty Transco hit a new record high of delivered natural gas. On Jan. 8, Transco delivered 13.7 million dekatherms…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Lancaster County Antis Ramp Up for “Nonviolent” Pipeline Protests
January 17, 2017January 17, 2017

North Dakota Access Pipeline’s “nonviolent” protesters – credit: LA Times

Last week MDN told you about the nutters from the radical group Lancaster Against Pipelines who built a second magic tree house in the path of the proposed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline (see PA Antis Build 2nd Magic Tree House to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe). As we pointed out then (and on previous occasions) this group is now aligning itself with, and taking its cues from, outside/paid protesters who engaged in criminal acts in North Dakota at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline project (see Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Turn Violent; Coming Here Next?). On Sunday, Lancaster Against Pipelines held yet another protest meeting–at the site of the new/second magic tree house. And guess who was there? “Organizers from at least three other states were in attendance to recruit and train people on nonviolent direct action. Some of them had taken part in the monthslong protest against an oil pipeline in North Dakota with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.” Is that the same Dakota Access “protest” where they were firing bullets at police and throwing rocks at law enforcement? Tell us again about this so-called “nonviolent” protest you’re planning in Lancaster…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

PA Antis Build 2nd Magic Tree House to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe
January 13, 2017January 13, 2017

Inspired by the criminal actions of eco-terrorists in North Dakota (see Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Turn Violent; Coming Here Next?), anti-pipeline zealots in Lancaster County, PA figured they would give some of the tactics from the Dakotas a try here. So last October they constructed a shed on stilts along the proposed path of the forthcoming Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline (see Antis Build Magic Tree House to Block Atlantic Sunrise Pipe). The shed on stilts looks like a big tree house (without the tree), which makes sense as the protesters are the equivalent of seven year-old, petulant, spoiled rotten children. Why not give themselves a magic tree house to hang out in and talk about the glory days of protesting Vietnam…er…ah…pipelines? The nutters have a Holy Cause–stop the use of all carbon-releasing fossil fuels. So, if one magic tree house was good, two would be even better! The nuts have done it again, building a second shed on stilts/tree house in the path of the pipeline. The nutters admit it will take about 15 minutes to rip them down, when the time comes. What they really hope is that thousands of people will swarm to the location of the tree houses and recreate the lawlessness of North Dakota here…
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Energy Services | Williams

Williams Simplifies Corp Structure, Floats New Stock for $1.8B
January 11, 2017January 11, 2017

Williams issued three press release on Monday that we’re still trying to figure out. Williams, like many other midstream (pipeline) companies has maintained a weird corporate structure whereby Williams the mother ship is a different corporate entity from Williams Partners, the main operating company. Once upon a time Williams had plans to merge the two together–but that all got mothballed when they ended up first fighting against, then trying to merge with Energy Transfer Equity (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B and Williams Accepts ETE’s “Indecent Proposal” – Price Went Down $10B). The deal eventually fell apart. Then Williams was briefly pursued by Enterprise Products Partners, interest which didn’t last long (see Drama: Enterprise Bails on Williams Merger, No Longer Interested). It seems that Williams has once again returned to the idea of tying the two corporate entities together more tightly. At least, that’s what we think is happening. The announcements begin by saying Williams is launching a plan to “simplify the structure” of the organization and remove the need for Williams Partners (stock ticker of WPZ) to “access public equity markets”–which means no further need to float new stock offerings. At the same time Williams the mother ship is floating 65 million shares of new stock at $29/share, hoping to raise a staggering $1.8 billion. Part of the “restructuring” means Williams Partners shareholders are about to get whacked with a much lower dividend payment. There’s a lot of moving parts here, so buckle up…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco | Williams

Williams Letter to FERC: Please Hurry Up Atlantic Sunrise Cert
January 10, 2017January 10, 2017

As MDN reported last week, on the last business day of 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS) for one of the major pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica: the $3 billion Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity). What’s left to do now? FERC must issue the final certificate that allows the company to start the backhoes and begin construction. Williams (under the subsidiary name of the Transco pipeline), sent a letter to FERC on Jan. 5 requesting FERC to issue that certificate no later than Feb. 16. Why? To “begin preparations to finalize federal and state permits as well as plan for construction to comply with restrictive environmental windows, specifically tree clearing within key habitat areas and installation through certain water bodies.” Williams/Transco has a lot to do in a short period of time if they are to keep this project on track for a mid-2018 launch. If they get the final certificate by mid-February they can clear trees by the end of the month and get ready for initial construction this summer. Williams plans to have at least some of the pipeline project up and running by the end of this year! And the rest by summer of 2018. So the letter (full copy below) is a “pretty please, would you hurry it up” request…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Would Williams Sell Its “Crown Jewel” (Transco)? You Bet Your Shoes!
January 5, 2017January 5, 2017

To say that it was a roller coaster ride for Williams in 2016 doesn’t even come close to reality. The company received no less than two takeover/merger attempts. Energy Transfer Equity’s (ETE) billionaire CEO Kelsy Warren propositioned Williams for over six months before going public with his overtures last year (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B). Williams resisted, but eventually they caved and agreed to the deal, although the deal price went down by $10 billion (see Williams Accepts ETE’s “Indecent Proposal” – Price Went Down $10B). Warren claims he got snookered and got cold feet, eventually bailing (see Dead as a Doornail: ETE Terminates Merger with Williams). The ink on the flurry of lawsuits filed hadn’t even dried and Enterprise Products Partners, another huge midstream company, began making overtures to Williams (see Here We Go Again: Enterprise Products Wants to Buy Williams). A month later Enterprise released a statement saying they’re finished with Williams, throwing in the towel, no longer interested (see Drama: Enterprise Bails on Williams Merger, No Longer Interested). What’s going on with all of this drama? At its core, Williams owns a “trophy asset,” what some call the “crown jewel.” That asset? The mighty, 10,500-mile Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co (Transco). Everyone wants Transco in part because of its geography in the Marcellus/Utica. So far Williams has resisted selling either Transco or the entire Williams company. But CEO Alan Armstrong–perhaps the guy most responsible for building the Transco–said this response to a question asking whether or not the company would ever sell the Transco: “I bring an extra pair of shoes to the office every day, just in case somebody offers me enough for the pair I’m wearing.” Meaning yes, if the price is right, he would sell it…
Read More “Would Williams Sell Its “Crown Jewel” (Transco)? You Bet Your Shoes!”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Williams

FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity
January 3, 2017January 4, 2017

1/4/17 Update: Williams finally issued its own press release about this, which we’ve included below.

On the last business day of 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS) for one of the major pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica: the $3 billion Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. The FERC EIS for Atlantic Sunrise (full copy embedded below) said that although there may be some adverse environmental effects from the project, those effects can be “reduced to less-than-significant levels” by Williams via the plans submitted. FERC considered five alternative routes and chose to stick with the preferred route proposed by Williams. However, FERC did ask Williams two make minor tweaks to four locations along the route of the pipeline. Cabot Oil & Gas, the main customer for the 1.7 billion cubic feet of capacity, was positively giddy with the announcement. Cabot released their own press release to say that although they previously gobbled up 850 million cubic feet (MMcf) of capacity along the new pipeline, they are adding another 150 MMcf to that number, giving the company a grand total of 1 billion cubic feet (out of 1.7 Bcf) of capacity along the pipe when it’s built. Holy moly! That will be 1 Bcf per day of Cabot’s gas going from Susquehanna County, PA to other states, outside the region. VERY smart move by Cabot. Below we have the news and feedback/analysis about the announcement…
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Energy Services | Williams

2 New Non-Corporate-Raider Board Members Join Williams
December 14, 2016December 14, 2016

It’s been a while since the last episode of As the (Midstream) World Turns. In our last episode, we left beleagured Williams conducting a board of directors “refreshment” program (i.e. purge)–to clean out the old and bring in some new blood. A brief history to catch you up in case you missed our previous episodes: Following an aborted merger with Energy Transfer Equity, six of Williams’ board members tried to engineer a palace coup to depose current CEO Alan Armstrong. The coup failed and the board members quit in July (see Half of Williams Board, Including 2 Corporate Raiders, Quit). One of the board members who quit was corporate raider Keith Mesiter, founder and managing partner of Corvex Management. Meister is a protege of Carl Ichan, hence we call him Mini-Me. After quitting, Mini-Me decided he wanted back on the board and began a proxy fight to take control of the company (see Corvex Raider Launches Hostile Takeover Attempt of Williams). In August, Williams appointed three new members of the board, all of them highly qualified (see Williams Appoints 3 New Board Members, Confounds Corp Raider). In September Williams continued with what it calls its “Board refreshment plan” by appointing two more new board members (see More Board Shakeups Coming to Williams). At that time Williams also announced three current board members who were on the board prior to the big shake-up (three who didn’t quit in July) will be gone by the annual meeting held Nov. 23. Those three are now gone, and yesterday Williams announced two new board members to replace them–heavy hitters! One of the new board members is the former CEO of Williams competitor Enterprise Products Partners…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

FERC Slaps NY AG; No Re-Hearing on Constitution Pipe Tree Clearing
November 29, 2016November 29, 2016

It’s now apparent that the fix has been in from the beginning–that New York’s corrupt Gov. Andrew Cuomo, colluding with New York’s corrupt Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, were on a mission to block the construction of the federally approved Constitution Pipeline, due to run from Susquehanna County, PA into Upstate New York (to Schoharie County). Before Cuomo decided to take the breathlessly lawsless act of blocking the pipeline by denying stream-crossing permits (being challenged in court), the Constitution asked for permission to begin clearing trees along the pipeline’s path. In January 2016, Schneiderman immediately objected (see NY AG Objects to Williams Tree Clearing for Constitution Pipeline). The Constitution never received permission and so did not clear any trees in New York State. Except–some trees did get cleared, by the landowners themselves. Landowners who wanted to realize the most money from trees that will eventually be cut were cutting the trees ON THEIR OWN, without the help, consent, assistance, or any form of aide from the Constitution. Schneiderman’s response? The Constitution should have known those stupid farmers would cut the trees and should have done something to stop it. So in May 2016, Schneiderman asked FERC to investigate the Constitution over the tree clearing matter, something called a “rehearing” (see NY Attorney General Asks FERC to Investigate Constitution Pipe and NY AG’s Allegation of Tree Cutting by Constitution Pipe a Fraud). FERC just got back to Schneiderman, and told him, NO…
Read More “FERC Slaps NY AG; No Re-Hearing on Constitution Pipe Tree Clearing”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Constitution Pipeline Case Goes to Court in 2 Weeks, Briefs Filed
November 2, 2016November 2, 2016

You may recall that in April, New York’s anti-drilling governor, Andrew Cuomo, decided he would cave to pressure from radical environmentalists once again and block the building of the federally-approved Constitution Pipeline (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Cuomo’s toadies at the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) denied the Constitution the permits it needs to cross creeks and swamps. That was finally enough for Williams and the other partners in the project, who promptly sued NY in federal, NOT state, court (see Williams Sues NY Over Constitution Pipe – DEC May Lose Authority). The court venue is important, because in NY our court system at the highest level is corrupt–the governor appoints judges and those judges like their big-salary jobs and want to get reappointed–so they “decide” cases the way Andy wants them decided (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). We’ve predicted, repeatedly, that the NY DEC runs the very real risk of being removed from the decision process when it comes to federally-approved pipeline projects. If they lose the Constitution case, they will no longer have a role to play. Even the libs at Bloomberg think the DEC has a weak case (see Bloomberg Predicts Court Will Strip NY’s Right to Stop Constitution). We’re now two weeks away from the court hearing date and Williams has filed a couple of briefs blasting the DEC (copies below), and the DEC has filed a brief responding (copy below). It’s turning into a legal brawl. Warning to Williams: be prepared to fight like a New York street-fighter. Fortunately, the case sits in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and not the NY Court of Appeals (NY’s highest court)…
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Energy Services | Williams

Williams 3Q16: Pendulum Swings Half a Billion $, Now in the Black
November 1, 2016November 1, 2016

Midstream giant Williams issued their third quarter 2016 update yesterday. According to Williams, the company had “strong” financial results in 3Q16. Indeed they did. The company swung from losing $194 million in 3Q15 to making $326 million in 3Q16–a net change of over half a billion dollars. Impressive! In the Marcellus/Utica, what Williams calls its Northeast G&P division, the company had revenue of $208 million, up from $189 million last year this time. On an investors phone call yesterday, CEO Alan Armstrong said the low prices in the Marcellus/Utica compared with other parts of the country will work themselves out, in time. That is, when more pipeline projects (like Williams Atlantic Sunrise and Constitution) go online to move the gas to other regions, the prices that gas fetches will go up and eventually gas prices in the northeast will be closer to the benchmark Henry Hub. Here’s the Williams 3Q16 update…
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