Williams' Board Approves Company's Bluegrass Pipeline Project

Williams' Board Approves Company's Bluegrass Pipeline Project

TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Williams' (NYS: WMB) board of directors has voted to approve the company's Bluegrass Pipeline project.

Williams is engaged in development work on the proposed natural-gas-liquids pipeline, which has a targeted in-service date of late 2015. The Bluegrass Pipeline will connect supply from the Marcellus and Utica shale-gas areas in the U.S. Northeast to growing petrochemical and export markets in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline also will connect NGL supply with the developing petrochemical market in the U.S. Northeast.

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LP (NYS: BWP) on May 28 announced they had formalized key joint-venture agreements tied to the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline and related fractionation, storage and export projects.

Phase one of the project will provide producers with 200,000 barrels per day of mixed NGL take-away capacity in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Phase two will increase capacity to 400,000 barrels per day to meet market demand, primarily by adding additional liquids pumping capacity. The pipeline will deliver mixed NGLs from these producing areas to new fractionation and storage facilities, providing connectivity to petrochemical facilities and product pipelines along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas.

The Bluegrass Pipeline includes construction of a new NGL pipeline from producing areas in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to an interconnect with Boardwalk's Texas Gas Transmission, LLC system (Texas Gas) in Hardinsburg, Ky. From that point to Eunice, La., a portion of Texas Gas would be converted from natural gas service to NGL service. The joint venture also will include constructing a new large-scale fractionation plant and expanding natural gas liquids storage facilities in Louisiana and constructing a new pipeline connecting these facilities to the converted Texas Gas line in the Eunice, La., area. Williams and Boardwalk also are exploring development of a new export liquefied petroleum gas terminal and related facilities on the Gulf Coast to provide customers access to international markets.

By combining new construction with an existing pipeline, Williams and Boardwalk believe that the Bluegrass Pipeline should be placed into service and begin serving customers sooner than other options. Williams and Boardwalk are engaged in comprehensive project development planning including permitting, public consultation and right-of-way acquisition. Williams and Boardwalk expect that the planned project should be placed into service in late 2015, assuming all necessary conditions are met.

Completion of this project is subject to all necessary or required approvals, elections, and actions, as well as execution of formal customer commitments.

About Williams (NYSE: WMB)

Williams is one of the leading energy infrastructure companies in North America. It owns interests in or operates 15,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines, 1,000 miles of NGL transportation pipelines, and more than 10,000 miles of oil and gas gathering pipelines. The company's facilities have daily gas processing capacity of 6.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas, NGL production of more than 200,000 barrels per day and domestic olefins production capacity of 1.35 billion pounds of ethylene and 90 million pounds of propylene per year. Williams owns approximately 68 percent of Williams Partners L.P. (NYS: WPZ) , one of the largest diversified energy master limited partnerships. Williams Partners owns most of Williams' interstate gas pipeline and domestic midstream assets. Williams also owns Canadian operations and certain domestic olefins pipelines assets, as well as a significant investment in Access Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYS: ACMP) , a midstream natural gas services provider. The company's headquarters is in Tulsa, Okla. For more information, visit www.williams.com, where the company routinely posts important information.

Portions of this document may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined by federal law. Although the company believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Any such statements are made in reliance on the "safe harbor" protections provided under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in the company's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Williams
Media Contact:
Sara Delgado, 918-573-2713
or
Investor Contacts:
John Porter, 918-573-0797
or
Sharna Reingold, 918-573-2078

KEYWORDS: United States North America Oklahoma

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

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