The Williams Cos. has put up the oil and gas assets it acquired from Barrett Resources Corp. last year as collateral for a $900-million loan from Lehman Brothers Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway. Williams had paid $2.8 billion in cash and stock for Barrett, outbidding Shell Oil. With Barrett came 2.1 trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent of proved reserves in the Rockies and Gulf of Mexico-reserves that would fetch approximately $2.1 billion in today's A&D market of approximately $1 per thousand cubic feet of proved reserves. In April, Barrett founder Bill Barrett and his new company, Bill Barrett Corp., bought back $73 million of Wind River Basin, Wyoming, properties from Williams. The properties were part of Barrett Resources. Williams reported that it did not consider the area to be core to its current focus. Instead, Williams is specializing in coalbed-methane and tight-sands gas in the Piceance, Green River, San Juan, Powder River, Raton and Arkoma basins. "While potential remains for Williams in our Wind River Basin activities, these particular properties did not fit our strategy for exploration and production," said Ralph Hill, Williams E&P president. More recently, Williams sold its Jonah Field, Wyoming, producing properties for $350 million to EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. and most of its gas-producing properties in the Anadarko Basin to Chesapeake Energy Corp. for approximately $37.5 million. "Tough times require tough decisions," says Steve Malcolm, chairman, president and chief executive officer. Several midstream assets are for sale or have been sold. And, the company is considering selling its western Canada midstream and upstream assets. It had acquired these from TransCanada in 2000. Production is approximately 225,000 barrels per day of gas liquids. "A sale would allow us to concentrate our resources on our core midstream positions in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico," says Phil Wright, president and CEO of Williams' energy services unit. Another jewel-its Cove Point, Md., liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and 87-mile pipeline-is going to Dominion Resources for $217 million in cash. Standard & Poor's credit analyst Jeffrey Wolinsky says, "The deterioration of the company's liquidity position, combined with a fall in its stock price after announcing a severe dividend cut, makes the possibility of issuing equity in the near term unlikely." Moody's Investors Service analysts report, "The company has a good base of unencumbered assets, which can serve as collateral for the credit facilities." It has become cash-poor because of having to use cash for margining and as financial assurance in its trading and marketing business.
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