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General, Description of Business, and Basis of Presentation
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
General, Description of Business, and Basis of Presentation [Text Block]
Note 1 – General, Description of Business, and Basis of Presentation
General
Our accompanying interim consolidated financial statements do not include all the notes in our annual financial statements and, therefore, should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2022, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. The accompanying unaudited financial statements include all normal recurring adjustments and others that, in the opinion of management, are necessary to present fairly our interim financial statements.
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, references in this report to “Williams,” “we,” “our,” “us,” or like terms refer to The Williams Companies, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, references to “Williams,” “we,” “our,” and “us” include the operations in which we own interests accounted for as equity-method investments that are not consolidated in our financial statements. When we refer to our equity investees by name, we are referring exclusively to their businesses and operations
Share Repurchase Program
In September 2021, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program with a maximum dollar limit of $1.5 billion. Repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market, by block purchases, in privately negotiated transactions, or in such other manner as determined by our management. Our management will also determine the timing and amount of any repurchases based on market conditions and other factors. The share repurchase program does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and it may be suspended or discontinued at any time. This share repurchase program does not have an expiration date. During 2023, there have been $74 million in repurchases under the program which are included in our Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity. Cumulative repurchases to date under the program total $83 million.
Description of Business
We are a Delaware corporation whose common stock is listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Our operations are located in the United States and are presented within the following reportable segments: Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services, consistent with the manner in which our chief operating decision maker evaluates performance and allocates resources. All remaining business activities, including our upstream operations and corporate activities, are included in Other.
Transmission & Gulf of Mexico is comprised of our interstate natural gas pipelines, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco), Northwest Pipeline LLC (Northwest Pipeline), and MountainWest (see Note 3 – Acquisitions), and their related natural gas storage facilities, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, including a 51 percent interest in Gulfstar One LLC (Gulfstar One) (a consolidated variable interest entity, or VIE), a 50 percent equity-method investment in Gulfstream Natural Gas System, L.L.C. (Gulfstream), and a 60 percent equity-method investment in Discovery Producer Services LLC (Discovery). Transmission & Gulf of Mexico also includes natural gas storage facilities and pipelines providing services in north Texas.
Northeast G&P is comprised of our midstream gathering, processing, and fractionation businesses in the Marcellus Shale region primarily in Pennsylvania and New York, and the Utica Shale region of eastern Ohio, as well
as a 65 percent interest in Ohio Valley Midstream LLC (Northeast JV) (a consolidated VIE) which operates in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, a 66 percent interest in Cardinal Gas Services, L.L.C. (Cardinal) (a consolidated VIE) which operates in Ohio, a 69 percent equity-method investment in Laurel Mountain Midstream, LLC (Laurel Mountain), a 50 percent equity-method investment in Blue Racer Midstream LLC (Blue Racer), and Appalachia Midstream Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary that owns equity-method investments with an approximate average 66 percent interest in multiple gas gathering systems in the Marcellus Shale region (Appalachia Midstream Investments).
West is comprised of our gas gathering, processing, and treating operations in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado and Wyoming, the Barnett Shale region of north-central Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale region of south Texas, the Haynesville Shale region of east Texas and northwest Louisiana, and the Mid-Continent region which includes the Anadarko and Permian basins. This segment also includes our NGL storage facilities, an undivided 50 percent interest in an NGL fractionator near Conway, Kansas, a 50 percent equity-method investment in Overland Pass Pipeline Company LLC (OPPL), a 50 percent equity-method investment in Rocky Mountain Midstream Holdings LLC (RMM), a 20 percent equity-method investment in Targa Train 7 LLC (Targa Train 7) (a nonconsolidated VIE), and a 15 percent equity-method investment in Brazos Permian II, LLC (Brazos Permian II) (a nonconsolidated VIE).
Gas & NGL Marketing Services is comprised of our NGL and natural gas marketing and trading operations, which includes risk management and transactions related to the storage and transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs) on strategically positioned assets.
Basis of Presentation
Significant risks and uncertainties
We believe that the carrying value of certain of our property, plant, and equipment and intangible assets, notably certain acquired assets accounted for as business combinations between 2012 and 2014, may be in excess of current fair value. However, the carrying value of these assets, in our judgment, continues to be recoverable. It is reasonably possible that future strategic decisions, including transactions such as monetizing assets or contributing assets to new ventures with third parties, as well as unfavorable changes in expected producer activities, could impact our assumptions and ultimately result in impairments of these assets. Such transactions or developments may also indicate that certain of our equity-method investments have experienced other-than-temporary declines in value, which could result in impairment.