Williams, operator of more than 30,000 miles of North American natural gas pipelines, said higher natural gas gathering volumes in the Northeast bolstered its second quarter results, while strengthening prices and a new joint venture (JV) in the Haynesville Shale brighten future prospects.

“The pricing run-up that we’ve had more recently and the continued demand growth is really starting to obviously put pressure and kind of wake up the forward markets a bit,” CEO Alan Armstrong said Tuesday during a call to discuss quarterly results. “And certainly, we are seeing responses from our producers looking to take advantage of that.”

Natural gas futures spiked about 10% in July, topping the $4.00 threshold for the first time since 2018. Bullish sentiment was driven by both...