OREANDA-NEWS. Williams (NYSE: WMB) board of directors has approved a regular dividend of USD 0.57 on the company's common stock, payable December 29 to holders of record at the close of business December 12.

The new amount is an increase of USD 0.19, or 50 percent, from the fourth-quarter 2013 dividend. Williams' full-year 2014 shareholder dividend of USD 1.96 per share is an increase of approximately 36 percent over the full-year 2013 amount.

In addition to the fourth-quarter 2014 dividend increase, Williams also is affirming dividend-growth guidance of approximately 15 percent annually - from the higher third-quarter 2014 base - through 2017 with planned dividends of approximately USD 2.46 in 2015, USD 2.82 in 2016, and USD 3.25 in 2017.

The expected quarterly increases in Williams' dividend are subject to quarterly approval of the company's board of directors.

Williams has paid a common stock dividend every quarter since 1974.

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.

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 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 4.13 billion cubic feet per day and more than 6,773 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.