Williams Partners to build Colorado gas plant

July 30, 2010
Williams Partners LP plans to expand its cryogenic processing capacity in the Piceance basin, the partnership announced July 29 as part of its second-quarter 2010 earnings release.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 30
-- Williams Partners LP plans to expand its cryogenic processing capacity in the Piceance basin, the partnership announced July 29 as part of its second-quarter 2010 earnings release.

It will build a 450-MMcfd gas plant at Williams’s Parachute, Colo., complex. The new plant will be capable of recovering up to 25,000 b/d of NGLs.

It will be in service in 2013 to process Williams's natural gas production in the Piceance basin, which currently exceeds processing capacity at Williams Partners' Willow Creek plant.

The proposed expansion of the Parachute plant is subject to “certain final approvals,” said the report.

Increase ownership
The earnings report also reviewed an announcement earlier in the month that it will increase ownership of Overland Pass Pipeline Co. LLC to 50%. Currently, Williams Partners owns only 1% with the remainder owned by Oneok Partners LP. A previously announced option price was about $425 million.

Subject to regulatory approvals, said the company, Williams Partners expects to close the transaction in third quarter with an effective date of June 30. The company plans to fund the purchase price with a combination of cash on hand and/or borrowings from its existing credit facility, said the earnings report.

Overland Pass pipeline includes a 760-mile NGL pipeline from Opal, Wyo., to the Midcontinent NGL market center in Conway, Kan., along with 150 and 125-mile extensions into the Piceance and Denver-Julesburg basins in Colorado.

Williams Partners' NGL volumes from its two Wyoming plants and its Willow Creek plant in Colorado are dedicated for transport on Overland Pass Pipeline under a long-term shipping agreement.