Williams Companies and Willbros USA Team Up to Expand Wyoming Gas Processing Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Williams Companies Incorporated (NYSE:WMB) (Tulsa Oklahoma) was selected by Shell Exploration & Production Company affilates to process natural gas produced by Shell from the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming. To process to the new gas Williams midstream group will construct a fourth processing train at its Opal Wyoming Gas Plant. The new cryogenic turbo expander plant will have process capacity of 350 mmscfd and will extract 7,000 barrels of NGL's per day.

The Portland Oregon office of Mountain West, a subsidiary of Willbros USA Incorporated (Houston Texas) was selected to provide engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for the new processing train. Mountain West is in the process of fabricating the new train in modules and expects to begin construction on site in August after Williams receives its air permits in the late second quarter of 2003 with a targeted completion date in November.

The forth train will increase the natural gas processing capacity at Opal from a current 750 mmscfd to 1.15 Bcf/d with the capability to extract over 50,000 barrels of NGL's per day. The Opal expansion is the third major expansion for Williams in Wyoming in as many years. Williams completed a the third train at Opal in 2000 and a new processing unit at Echo Springs in 2002 bringing that plants capacity up to 390 mmscfd.

Williams gathering and processing group operates fifteen gas processing plants, nine separation & treating plants, 9,200-miles of gathering lines concentrated in Western Canada, Wyoming, Venezuela, New Mexico, and the Gulf of Mexico with a total gathering capacity of 7.5 Bcf/d and a processing capacity of 14 Bcf/d along with over 500,000 barrels of NGL produced daily.

Willbros USA Incorporated is a subsidiary of the Willbros Group Incorporated (NYSE:WG) (Panama City Panama).

IIR first reported on and has been tracking the progress of the fourth train at Opal since December of 2000 and the unit addition at Echo Springs was first reported in November of 2000.