Williams Partners Plans to Bring Geismar Olefins Plant and Expansion Online by April
Williams Partners Plans to Bring Geismar Olefins Plant and Expansion Online by April
TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Williams Partners L.P. (NYS: WPZ) is executing through its subsidiary Williams Olefins LLC on a plan that has an early April 2014 timeframe for restarting its Geismar Olefins plant and bringing online an expansion that will increase its share of the plant's ethylene production capacity by approximately 50 percent. The facility has been offline for investigatory work, damage assessment and repairs following an explosion incident on June 13.
While the plant is offline, Williams Partners through its subsidiary Williams Olefins LLC has been able to resume expansion construction activities across the majority of the plant outside of the incident area, which is limited to the immediate vicinity of the propylene fractionator. Based on the initial damage assessment, Williams Partners is engaged in the engineering, procurement and demolition of impacted equipment to repair the facility. As of this time, major items slated for replacement include:
Piping and heat exchangers associated with the propylene fractionator
Significant portions of the electrical power cable and control wiring in the plant
Support structures and piping impacted by the incident
The company is working to reduce the duration of the repair project, which is the critical path to restart, as much as economically possible. It also intends to finalize the expansion project in this same timeframe.
Williams Partners through its subsidiary Williams Olefins LLC continues to cooperate in a full and transparent manner with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) on their investigations into the cause of the incident.
Williams and Williams Partners are committed to the safe conduct of the rebuild and expansion work ahead and to bring the expanded plant into safe and reliable operations for the benefit of our employees, contractors, the community and customers.
Williams and Williams Partners have each updated their financial guidance as part of their second-quarter earnings news releases, issued today.
About Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ)
Williams Partners L.P. is a leading diversified master limited partnership focused on natural gas transportation; gathering, treating, and processing; storage; natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation; and oil transportation. The partnership owns interests in three major interstate natural gas pipelines that, combined, deliver 14 percent of the natural gas consumed in the United States. The partnership's gathering and processing assets include large-scale operations in the U.S. Rocky Mountains and both onshore and offshore along the Gulf of Mexico. Williams (NYS: WMB) owns approximately 68 percent of Williams Partners, including the general-partner interest. More information is available at www.williamslp.com, where the partnership routinely posts important information.
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 partnership 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 partnership's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Williams Partners L.P.
Media Contact:
Tom Droege, 918-573-4034
or
Investor Contacts:
John Porter, 918-573-0797
or
Sharna Reingold, 918-573-2078
KEYWORDS: United States North America Louisiana Oklahoma
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:
The article Williams Partners Plans to Bring Geismar Olefins Plant and Expansion Online by April originally appeared on Fool.com.
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