Williams' Willow Creek Gas Processing Facility Reaches Full Processing Operations

TULSA, Okla., Sept. 29  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Williams (NYSE:WMB) announced that the 450-million-cubic-feet-per-day (MMcfd) Willow Creek natural gas processing plant in western Colorado's Piceance Basin has achieved full processing operations. The plant began operations on Aug. 7.

"This state-of-the-art facility reinforces our commitment to building large-scale, reliable infrastructure in key basins," said Alan Armstrong, president of Williams' midstream business. "With Willow Creek we bring the same intense focus on safety and reliability as we do with all our assets," Armstrong said.

"Our team completed the plant on time and with no lost-time accidents during construction. It was also completed within approximately 1 percent of the original budget, which is significant given the inflated construction cost environment during the majority of the project," Armstrong said.

Construction of the Willow Creek facility began November 2007 and finished in July 2009. It consists of a single-train amine treating and cryogenic plant located in Rio Blanco County, Colo., approximately 25 miles northwest of Williams' facilities in Garfield County.

The plant's volumes originate from Williams' natural gas production in the Piceance Basin. The volumes currently being processed are being delivered to the Willow Creek plant via the Parachute Lateral, the company's 30-inch diameter gathering pipeline. The volumes are delivered into the Parachute Lateral downstream of Williams' Parachute processing plant.

After processing at Willow Creek, the Parachute Lateral then delivers the gas north to the Greasewood and White River Hubs.

The Willow Creek plant is currently recovering approximately 20,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids (NGLs). Once the Willow Creek plant is processing gas volumes that have not already been processed at the Parachute plant, the expectation for peak NGL production is nearly 30,000 barrels per day. At peak production, the Willow Creek plant will boost the volume of NGLs recovered by Williams in the basin by more than five times the previous levels.

About Williams (NYSE:WMB)

Williams, through its subsidiaries, finds, produces, gathers, processes and transports natural gas.  Williams' operations are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Gulf Coast, and Eastern Seaboard. More information is available at http://www.williams.com.  Go to http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=630&to=ea&s=0 to join our e-mail list.

  Contact:      Jeff Pounds
                Williams (media relations)
                [phone]

                Richard George
                Williams (investor relations)
                [phone]



Portions of this document may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined by federal law. Although the company 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 company's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

DATASOURCE: Williams



CONTACT:  Jeff Pounds, media relations, [phone], or Richard

George, investor relations, [phone], both of Williams



Web Site:  http://www.williams.com/ 

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