OREANDA-NEWS. Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) today announced it expects its expanded Geismar Olefins plant to begin manufacturing ethylene for sale in November. That timeline is consistent with the financial guidance the partnership provided in July.

Williams Partners' expanded Geismar olefins plant now has a capacity of 1.95 billion pounds of ethylene per year. (Photo: Business Wire)

All major construction related to the rebuild of the damaged plant, the expansion project and the safety-related equipment installation is now complete. The general contractors for the expansion and rebuild projects have demobilized and Williams' operations personnel are now directing the dry-out and commissioning of the plant.

"We are in the final stages of commissioning and startup," said John Dearborn, senior vice president of NGL & Petchem Services. "We fully expect to be manufacturing ethylene for sale in November, consistent with our financial guidance. We continue to place our highest focus on restoring safe and reliable operations for our employees, contractors, community and customers."

Capacity at the plant is now 1.95 billion pounds of ethylene per year. Williams Partners' share of the total capacity of the expanded plant is approximately 1.7 billion pounds per year. Williams (NYSE: WMB) owns controlling interest and is the general partner of Williams Partners.

About Williams, Williams Partners and Access Midstream Partners

Williams, headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., is one of the leading energy infrastructure companies in North America. It owns controlling interests in both Williams Partners L.P. and Access Midstream Partners, L.P. through its ownership of 100 percent of the general partner of each partnership. Additionally, Williams owns approximately 66 percent and 50 percent of the limited partner units of Williams Partners L.P. and Access Midstream Partners, L.P., respectively.

On June 15, 2014 Williams proposed the merger of Williams Partners and Access Midstream Partners. The proposed merger has been approved by boards of each partnership and is expected to close in early 2015.

Williams Partners L.P. owns and operates both on-shore and off-shore assets of approximately 15,000 miles of natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines, 1,800 miles of NGL transportation pipelines, an additional 11,000 miles of oil and gas gathering pipelines and numerous other energy infrastructure assets. The partnership's operated facilities have daily gas gathering capacity of approximately 11 billion cubic feet, processing capacity of approximately 7 billion cubic feet, NGL production of more than 400,000 barrels per day and domestic olefins production capacity of 1.95 billion pounds of ethylene and up to 114 million pounds of propylene per year.

Access Midstream Partners, L.P. owns and operates natural gas midstream assets across nine states, with an average net throughput of approximately 3.9 billion cubic feet per day and more than 6,495 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, the partnership's operations are focused on the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Marcellus, Niobrara and Utica Shales and the Mid-Continent region of the U.S.