Williams to Begin Pipeline Expansion for Florida Customers

Tulsa based Williams Partners L.P. says it plans to begin construction soon on the Hillabee Expansion Project to increase growing needs for more natural gas in Florida. Work will get underway in May on the first phase that shoujld be completed and operational by May 2017. While Williams Cos. is laying off 10 percent of its workforce, it is pushing ahead with construction projects.

It will increase the capacity from certain receipt points located at Transco’s Station 85 in Choctaw County, Alabama to a proposed point of interconnection between Transco and the Sabal Trail pipeline in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. Transco is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners and is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing interstate natural gas transmission pipeline system.

The project involves three phases of construction and will eventually add neary 1.13 million dekatherms a day of pipeline capacity by May 2021. The company said it is is enough natural gas to meet the needs of more than 4 million American homes a year.

Some 43 miles of additional pipe segments will be construction in Alabama as well as a new compressor facility in Choctaw County, Alabama. There wll also be modifications to other existing compressor stations and valve sites.

The Hillabee Expansion project is included ni the Williams Partners 2016 growth capital funding plan announced in late January.

“We’re excited to move forward as planned with this critical piece of infrastructure to help meet long-term natural gas needs in Florida,” said Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Partners’ Atlantic-Gulf operating area. “The Hillabee expansion is among several fully contracted interview pipeline projects the company is executing to connect North America’s abundant natural gas supplies to demand growth from the local distribution, electric power generation, industrial and LNG export businesses.”