Williams Partners Receives Letter of Award to Deliver Gulfstar FPS™ for Deepwater Project

TULSA, Okla., May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ) announced today that it has received a Letter of Award from Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) to provide production handling services in the Tubular Bells field development located in the eastern deepwater Gulf of Mexico. 

Hess, operator of the Tubular Bells field, will utilize Williams Partners' proprietary floating-production system, Gulfstar FPS™.  Williams Partners expects Gulfstar FPS to be capable of serving as a central host facility for other deepwater prospects in the area.

Williams Partners will design, construct and install its Gulfstar FPS with a capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day, up to 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMcf/d) and the capability to provide seawater injection services. The facility is a spar-based floating production system that utilizes traditional three-level topsides mated to a classic spar hull. This standard design approach will allow customers to reduce their cycle time from discovery to first oil.

Williams Partners has issued a Letter of Award to Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc., through its subsidiary Gulf Marine Fabricators, to construct the hull portion of the Gulfstar FPS in Corpus Christi, Texas. Williams Partners expects to select and award the topsides portion of the Gulfstar FPS to a Gulf Coast fabricator, making this the first spar-based floating production system to be built entirely in the U.S. Gulf Coast area.

"Gulfstar is intended to be another tool that deepwater producers can deploy for field developments that utilize proven and reliable wet-tree technology," said Rory Miller, president of Williams Partners' midstream business. "This Gulfstar project expands our deepwater export, gathering and production handling business in the Gulf.

"This agreement demonstrates the value that deepwater producers place on reducing cycle time and costs. It also reflects the commercial benefit of our reputation for reliability – both in our deployment of innovative solutions and in our operations. We are delivering a solution that has positive, meaningful bottom-line impact for producers," Miller said.

Williams Partners owns and operates significant oil and gas gathering and processing assets both onshore and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.  The partnership's assets in the Gulf region include approximately 800 miles of onshore and offshore natural gas gathering pipelines with a combined capacity of approximately 3.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), four deepwater crude oil pipelines with a combined length of nearly 400 miles and capacity of 475 million barrels per day (MMbbls/d), two onshore processing plants with a combined inlet capacity of 1.2 Bcf/d, and two offshore production platforms with a combined capacity of 710 MMcf/d of natural gas and 60 MMbbls/d of oil.

About Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ)

Williams Partners L.P. is a leading diversified master limited partnership focused on natural gas transportation; gathering, treating, and processing; storage; natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation; and oil transportation. The partnership owns interests in three major interstate natural gas pipelines that, combined, deliver 12 percent of the natural gas consumed in the United States. The partnership's gathering and processing assets include large-scale operations in the U.S. Rocky Mountains and both onshore and offshore along the Gulf of Mexico. Williams (NYSE: WMB) owns approximately 75 percent of Williams Partners, including the general-partner interest. More

information is available at www.williamslp.com. Go to http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=1296&to=ea&s=0 or http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=630&to=ea&s=0 to join our email list.

Portions of this document may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined by federal law. Although the partnership believes any such statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there is no assurance that actual outcomes will not be materially different. Any such statements are made in reliance on the "safe harbor" protections provided under the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Additional information about issues that could lead to material changes in performance is contained in the partnership's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Williams Partners L.P.

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