TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) announced today that it has successfully placed into service its Gulf Trace project, a 1.2 million dekatherm per day expansion of the Transco pipeline system to serve the Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: CQP) Sabine Pass Liquefaction export terminal in Cameron Parish, La.

The Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal is the first large-scale LNG export facility in operation in the United States.

The Gulf Trace project allows Transco’s production area mainline and southwest Louisiana lateral systems to flow gas bi-directionally from Station 65 in St. Helena Parish, La. to Cameron Parish, La. Cheniere has subscribed to all the firm capacity for the project.

“Projects like Gulf Trace, which leverage existing gas pipeline infrastructure, make it possible to connect abundant domestic supply with emerging international markets,” said Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Partners’ Atlantic-Gulf operating area. “Williams is well-positioned to take advantage of the projected surge in LNG demand growth, with our Transco pipeline passing through every U.S. state with an LNG export facility currently under construction.”

Natural gas demand to serve LNG export facilities along the Transco pipeline is expected to grow by approximately 11,000 MDth/d by 2025. In September 2016 the company filed an application seeking regulatory approval for its Gulf Connector Expansion Project, designed to deliver 475,000 dekatherms per day to feed two liquefied natural gas export terminals in Texas — one located on the northern coast of Corpus Christi Bay in 2019, and another located on the coast of Freeport Bay in the second half of 2018.

Gulf Trace is part of approximately $1.6 billion in transmission growth projects Williams Partners plans to bring into service on its Transco pipeline system in 2017 that will help increase the pipeline’s capacity by approximately 3.0 million dekatherms per day. The Garden State, Dalton, Hillabee (Phase 1), Virginia Southside II and New York Bay Expansion projects are all under construction and/or expected to be placed in-service this year.

Transco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners, of which Williams (NYSE: WMB) owns controlling interests. Transco is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing interstate natural gas transmission pipeline system. It delivers natural gas to customers through its 10,200-mile pipeline network whose mainline extends nearly 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York City. The system provides cost-effective natural gas services to U.S. markets in the Southeast and Atlantic seaboard states, including major metropolitan areas in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as international markets.

About Williams Partners

Williams Partners is an industry-leading, large-cap natural gas infrastructure master limited partnership with a strong growth outlook and major positions in key U.S. supply basins. Williams Partners has operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene and other olefins. Williams Partners owns and operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines system wide – including the nation’s largest volume and fastest growing pipeline – providing natural gas for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. Williams Partners’ operations touch approximately 30 percent of U.S. natural gas. Tulsa, Okla.-based Williams (NYSE: WMB), a premier provider of large-scale U.S. natural gas infrastructure, owns approximately 74 percent of Williams Partners.

Portions of this document may constitute “forward-looking statements” as defined by federal law. Although the partnership believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in the partnership’s annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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