Williams Partners subsidiary Utica Gas Services has completed the previously announced acquisition of an extra 13 percent stake in Utica East Ohio Midstream LLC (UEO) from a subsidiary of EV Energy Partners, LP for US$357 million.

 

With the acquisition, Williams has increased its interest in UEO from 49 percent to 62 percent. UEO is a substantial natural gas midstream business in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio. The gathering, processing, fractionation and storage assets are anchored by long term, fee-based contracted commitments.

 

“We are very pleased to expand our ownership position in this valuable asset in the Utica,” said Alan Armstrong, CEO of Williams Partners’ general partner. “UEO has experienced consistent volume growth and we see attractive growth opportunities as the Utica continues to develop.”

 

Simultaneous with the transaction, the other member of UEO acquired approximately 8 percent of additional equity in UEO.

 

UEO is a joint project to develop infrastructure for gathering, processing and fractionation of NGL in the Utica Shale play in eastern Ohio. Williams Partners, along with another equity owner, operates the infrastructure complex which consists of natural gas gathering and compression facilities, four processing plants with a total capacity of 800 MMcf per day, a 135,000 bpd NGL fractionation, 600,000 barrels of NGL storage and other assets, including loading and terminals. These assets earn a fixed fee that escalates annually within a specified range.

 

15th June 2015