Aspects of Williams Companies' Proposed Acquisition of Barrett Resources Corp.

Background

On May 7, 2001, Williams announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Barrett Resources in a transaction valued at $2.8 billion, including $300 million of debt owed by Barrett. The deal more than doubles Williams' U.S. natural gas reserves. Shell Oil (Royal Dutch/Shell) had previously submitted a hostile cash bid for $2.3 billion (including assumed debt). Williams is a diversified energy company engaged in energy services (including exploration and production) and natural gas pipelines. Williams also has 2 refineries with a total capacity of 380,000 barrels per day, which is 2.3 percent of U.S. capacity. Williams' interstate natural gas pipeline capacity represents 13.6 percent of total U.S. interstate natural gas pipeline capacity. Barrett is an independent exploration and production company. It reports that 32 percent of its 2000 dry natural gas reserves are contained in coal-bed methane basins.

The following link provides company-level data from various public sources to inform discussions of the Williams-Barrett merger. This data presentation is similar to data presentations that have been previously requested from EIA for other significant energy company mergers and/or corporate alliances.

U.S. Oil and Gas Production

Financial Analysis Team, Office of Energy Markets and End Use, Energy Information Administration, May 7, 2001

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