Williams Friday announced agreements involving the sale of assets for cash proceeds in excess of $100 million. In its midstream business, Williams has completed the first sale involving a portion of its operations in Western Canada. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has purchased Williams’ West Stoddart natural gas processing plant for an undisclosed amount. The West Stoddart plant is located roughly 50 kilometers northwest of Fort St. John, British Columbia, and has a processing capacity of 120 MMcf/d.

Williams’s midstream business also has agreed to sell its 20% aggregate ownership interest in the 3,000-mile West Texas LPG Pipeline L.P. to Buckeye Partners, L.P. for approximately $28.5 million. This system transports natural gas liquids from points throughout Texas to the oil hub at Mont Belvieu. Williams expects to complete the sale this month, subject to typical closing conditions.

In its energy marketing and risk management business, Williams has sold or has agreements to sell distributed generation units and an associated third- party contract for approximately $31 million. The units have a total capacity of approximately 154 MW. Williams completed $21 million of the sales in June; the transaction for the remainder is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to typical closing conditions.

In early July, Williams also received $10.1 million from Williams Energy Partners for a refined products management business, plus an estimated $5.2 million for inventory.

The company expects to record pretax gains of approximately $3 million in the second quarter and approximately $20 million in the third quarter related to these asset sales.

Williams, reporting large losses in 2002, said in February it planned an additional $2.5 billion in anticipated asset sales, excluding the $1.9 billion that were previously initiated or announced. Since the beginning of 2002, Williams has sold or agreed to sell more than 20 assets, resulting in the divestiture of petroleum pipelines, natural gas and natural gas liquids pipelines, retail convenience stores, ethanol plants and two of three refineries, the company said in May (see Daily GPI, May 14).

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