Williams has reached an agreement to acquire the Haynesville basin gathering and processing assets of Trace Midstream, a portfolio company of Quantum Energy Partners in a transaction valued at $950 million.
The combination of the Trace system with Williams’ existing footprint provides expanded scale in one of the largest growth basins in the country, increasing the company’s gathering capacity in the Haynesville basin from 1.8 Bcf/d to over 4 Bcf/d.
As part of the transaction, Trace customer and Quantum affiliate Rockcliff Energy has agreed to a long-term capacity commitment in support of Williams’ Louisiana Energy Gateway (LEG) project. The LEG project is designed to gather responsibly sourced natural gas produced in the Haynesville and connect it to premium Transco markets, as well as growing industrial and LNG export demand along the Gulf Coast.
In further support of the LEG project, Williams signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Quantum to form a joint venture to enable Quantum to become an equity investor and partner in the project. The partnership brings together Williams’ expertise as a leading developer and operator of clean energy infrastructure with Quantum’s abilities as a leading global provider of private capital to the responsibly sourced energy, energy transition and decarbonization sectors.
“Williams continues to increase scale and connectivity in the best and most efficient natural gas basins, and these transactions with Trace, Rockcliff and Quantum represent an important extension of our natural gas-focused strategy,” said Williams President and CEO Alan Armstrong.
“We are excited for the opportunity to help Rockcliff continue their success and connect them to growing markets with Quantum as our new partner in LEG,” he said. “Importantly, this is going to be the flagship of our low carbon wellhead-to-water venture, proving up what an important role natural gas can play in reducing emissions, lowering costs and providing secure reliable energy here and around the world.”
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter subject to regulatory approvals.