Williams buys up north Texas midstream assets
Williams on September 8 said it had paid $423mn to acquire NorTex Midstream, an operator of gas pipeline and storage assets in northern Texas.
The deal, which closed August 31 but was only today announced by Williams, includes an 80 mile (128.8km)-long gas transmission grid, as well as 36bn ft3 of storage capacity, focused around the Dallas-Fort Worth natural gas market.
The acquisition will help Williams pump more Permian gas to newly-developed LNG export facilities along the US Gulf Coast, Williams said, with the Gulf's export capacity projected to expand massively in coming years. With investors scrambling to absorb increased global demand for US cargoes, forthcoming LNG developments on the Gulf Coast include potential developments by Cheniere Energy, New Fortress Energy and Venture Global.
Aside from LNG, some 4,000 MW of electricity capacity at gas-fired power plants relies on NorTex's gas transmission portfolio, allowing utilities to cycle output to meet peak demand.
Alan Armstrong, president of Williams, said: "Serving one the fastest growing population centers in the United States, this irreplaceable natural gas infrastructure is critical to bridging the gap between limited supplies and periods of peak demand, while supporting the viability of intermittent renewables like solar and wind.
"During the extreme cold of Winter Storm Uri, the NorTex pipeline and storage facilities reliably provided gas to residential customers and electric power plants throughout the entire storm."