Williams Partners (WPZ) Brings Online New York Bay Expansion

Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ) has brought online New York Bay Expansion, one of its five projected fully contracted Transco expansion projects. All these five projects are anticipated to be commissioned within 2017.

New York Bay Expansion is a part of Transco pipeline system and is likely to boost natural gas delivery capacity to New York City by 115,000 dekatherms per day by heating season of 2017/2018.

National Grid (LON:NG), which is the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern United States, will get some relief from the commissioning of New York Bay Expansion. This will provide incremental firm transportation capacity for the largely required natural gas supplies. The company serves to 1.8 million customers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.

Besides alteration to existing meter and regulator stations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, the New York Bay Expansion Project comprises installation of horsepower at three existing Transco compressor facilities.

Together with Gulf Trace, Hillabee Phase 1 and the Dalton Expansion, the Transco expansion projects are estimated to add more than 2.5 million dekatherms per day capacity to the Transco pipeline system in 2017. The fifth Transco expansion, the Virginia Southside II project, is anticipated to be commissioned during the fourth quarter of 2017.

About Transco

Transco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Partners, has been operational for more than six decades and is the largest-volume and fastest-growing interstate natural gas pipeline systemin the United States. Currently, the pipeline system is accountable for about 50% of total natural gas consumed in the city. Transco’s pipeline network spreads over 10,000-mile and its mainline extends about 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York City. The system provides feasible natural gas services in 12 Southeast and Atlantic Seaboard states in the country.

About Williams Partners

Williams Partners’ natural gas infrastructure assets include the fastest growing pipeline networks that carry the highest volumes of natural gas in the United States from the best supply basins in North America. Year to date, shares of the company have returned 3.7% compared with the industry’s increase of 5.5%. However, the increasing debt load, which is weighing on the partnership’s balance sheet, could delay pipeline expansions.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Williams Partners carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the energy sector include First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) , Lonestar Resources US Inc (NASDAQ:LONE) and Alliance Resources Partners, LP (NASDAQ:ARLP) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

First Solar designs, based in Tempe, AZ, manufactures and sells solar electric power modules using a proprietary thin-film semiconductor technology. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 524.24% over the last four quarters.

Lonestar Resources is an oil and gas company, headquartered in Fort Worth. The company delivered positive earnings surprise of 62.5% in the preceding quarter.

Alliance Resources Partners is a diversified producer and marketer of coal to major U.S. utilities and industrial users. The firm delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 29.76% over the last four quarters.

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