Williams Partners paying $2.5 billion for Marcellus Shale assets 

Williams Partners paying 2.5 billion for Marcellus Shale assets

Mar 19, 2012 (Menafn - Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Tulsa-based Williams Partners LP announced Monday it will buy 2.5 billion worth of gathering, processing and fractionation assets in a natural gas liquids-rich portion of the Marcellus Shale.

Williams is acquiring Caiman Eastern Midstream LLC, a subsidiary of Caiman Energy. The Marcellus Shale assets include a gathering system, two processing facilities and a fractionator in northern West Virginia.

"These new assets, anchored by long-term agreements with a diverse set of customers, give us a major presence in the liquids-rich portion of the Marcellus Shale," Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said in a statement. "We expect significant long-term growth potential because the liquids-rich gas makes this area the most economical and top-performing play for producers in North America."

The Caiman assets will be adjacent to gas and oil producing plays within the nearby Utica Shale. Williams Partners also announced a joint venture with Caiman Energy to build midstream infrastructure in the Utica Shale.

The partnership will pay Caiman Energy about 1.78 billion in cash and 11.8 million common units valued at about 720 million. Parent Williams Cos. Inc. which owns 72 percent of Williams Partners, also intends to make a 1 billion investment in the partnership by purchasing about 16.3 million limited partner units and waiving the general partner distribution rights through 2013.

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