Oil & Gas - Energy - Commodities - Resources (OILBRENT)

[benfrankledger]

$WPZ $WMB Williams Partners LP boasts a market valuation that's nearly identical to Kinder Morgan's, but focuses almost exclusively on shuttling natural gas in the Northwest, Northeast, and along the Gulf Coast. In fall 2018 the partnership will cease to exist and merge with its parent, The Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB), which owned a 74% stake in the pipeline operator at the end of March.

The decision to merge was triggered by tax considerations, but will provide benefits to shareholders as well. Most importantly, it will simplify the corporate structure of Williams Companies and make it easier to raise the capital needed to invest in promising growth projects.

That includes a healthy list of expansion projects aimed at transporting booming natural gas production from the Utica and Marcellus regions in the Northeast -- responsible for 41% of all shale gas production in the United States -- to industrial and export infrastructure along the Gulf Coast and homes and businesses throughout the Southeast. The company's Transco system, which stretches from New York to Texas, provides it with a massive advantage to capitalize on the Northeast's gas.