WILLIAMS PROFITS IMPROVE

Williams Cos. Inc. on Wednesday reported a thirdquarter profit of $242 million, up from about $200 million one year ago

TULSA — Williams Cos. Inc. continues to outperform its 2018 results.

On Wednesday, the company reported it earned a third-quarter net income of $242 million on total revenues of about $2 billion.

The company's year-overyear results apparently were helped by lower commodity costs.

In the third quarter of 2018, it earned a net income of $200 million on total revenues of about $2.3 billion. However, the company paid nearly $800 million then to obtain product, compared to only paying $434 million for it during this year's third quarter.

Net income available in the third quarter of 2019 to the company's stockholders, officials said, was $220 million, or 18 cents per share. Net income available in the third quarter a year ago was $129 million, or 13 cents per share.

“Our third-quarter 2019 results show why we're so confident in the long-term sustainability of our business,” Williams CEO Alan Armstrong said.

Armstrong, who said the company remains on track with its 2019 guidance, noted Williams also boosted its cash flow from operations during the third quarter, year-over-year, thanks to a demand-driven natural gas strategy.

The company recently placed an expansion of its Transco pipeline system into service in New Jersey, received federal approval to expand another portion of the system in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast and has a request to expand yet another portion of the system to connect gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale fields to the Atlantic Seaboard before regulators now.

He said Williams expects the daily capacity of the overall Transco system will expand from its current 17.2 million dekatherms per day to more than 18 million a year from now.

The company also benefited from increased gathering volumes and also commissioned another natural gas processing plant in the Denver-Julesburg Basin.

“Natural gas is fundamentally important to achieving both economic development and emissions reductions goals, both in the United States and abroad,” Armstrong said. “As we continue to focus on connecting the best supplies to the best markets, natural gas demand will continue to drive realized and future growth for our business.”

The company' s stock, traded under the ticker symbol WMB on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $22.89 on Wednesday, off 33 cents per share.