Williams is positioned better than any other company to benefit from the coming wave of natural gas demand from the power generation market, industrial reshoring and LNG exports, while continuing to deliver on traditional market needs, President and CEO Alan Armstrong told analysts in a call about first quarter 2025 earnings.
“Our business is firing on all cylinders, and we have a track record of generating predictable, growing earnings in a variety of economic cycles,” he said. “It is really staggering, when you step back and consider all the facets of our business that are providing high return growth opportunities.”
Armstrong said power generation projects like Williams’ Socrates project in Ohio will deliver speed-to-market solutions for growing demand.
“Williams will invest approximately $1.6 billion to provide committed power generation and associated gas pipeline infrastructure for our customer. We are full steam ahead on this project and anticipate completing the build out in the second half of 2026.”
Expansion projects
Armstrong also announced a new project, Transco’s Power Express pipeline, planned for existing right-of-way corridors. The 950 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) expansion to markets north of Station 165 will help to serve the power-hungry Virginia area.
“This project will provide the same kind of return as our Southeast Supply Enhancement project, and the demand for this capacity has been robust,” he said.
He noted that during the first quarter, Williams started construction on Transco’s Alabama Georgia Connector and MountainWest’s Overthrust Westbound Expansion and placed Transco’s Southeast Energy Connector and Texas to Louisiana Energy Pathway projects in-service. Additionally, Williams placed Deepwater projects Whale and Ballymore in-service.
Armstrong also said the company acquired a 10% interest in Cogentrix Energy, enhancing market intelligence and giving Williams insights into how to better serve the emerging power markets with natural gas supply.
In an interview with Fox Business, Armstrong said the company’s future is bright.
“What’s really exciting is the way our long-term horizon of growth is shaping up, which just continues to impress us frankly, even though we’ve got pretty big ideas about what the future will look like for natural gas demand, the kind of opportunities that are coming at us really continuous surprise us.”