As natural gas demand increasingly shifts to the Gulf Coast for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, Tulsa-based pipeline giant Williams will seek to connect more Lower 48 gas supply to its Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company LLC (Transco) trunkline over the coming years, executives said Thursday at the company’s analyst day in New York.

Senior Vice President Chad Zamarin, who handles corporate strategic development, said that while the Haynesville Shale in Northwest Louisiana and East Texas is geographically close to large demand markets, the basin’s existing takeaway capacity mainly serves markets other than the Gulf Coast.

“So we will continue to see the need for infrastructure in order to move incremental gas from the Haynesville,” Zamarin said.

“The good news is, though, that we have a super attractive footprint in the Haynesville…and we’re focused on connecting our system and other supplies that are going to move out of the Haynesville to our infrastructure along the Gulf Coast and our Transco footprint.”

Although the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico suffers from a lack of long-haul takeaway capacity, the economics currently do not support investment by Williams in a large-diameter, long-distance pipeline out of the basin, Zamarin said.

“That said, we keep a very close eye on the Permian, and as Permian supply migrates to the Gulf Coast, we will be expanding and reconfiguring our footprint and our Transco mainline, in order to deliver gas to key demand markets,” he added.

Williams expects combined supply growth of more than 30 Bcf/d from the Appalachian, Permian, and Haynesville basins over the next 10 years.

https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/120427-williams-seeking-to...