WMB
#Well 2017 that's when those MVCs ended naturally under the contracts, so there really isn't any change to that.
And the design of the drilling obligation was to ensure that the volumes as the 2017 period ended were at a relatively high level.
Really great trade on that.
We allowed them to combine those fields and allow them to put best economics to work on their capital.
But in exchange for that we both got a longer-term and better expectations for volumes and growth in the future.
Really while everyone was trying to find a winner and a loser on that, but I would just tell you from my vantage point and believe me we've studied it hard that really is a win-win.
And it only makes sense that there is, because when you are forcing people to make uneconomic capital decisions and you allow them to make better capital decisions you've improved a lot for both parties.
I would just say that we think those were the bulk of the opportunities, but we will continue to look for opportunities if there's growth opportunities.
Always happy to work with them.
Great relationship developed there and we are very thankful to have them as a customer.
We think they are a great operator and have been very fair to work with.
So we will continue to look for opportunities, but we don't have anything immediately to offer on that.
Sure.
Thanks for the question.
<UNK>, would you take that question, please.
Sure.
Good eye there <UNK>.
Those numbers did change a little bit quarter to quarter.
When we initially had that open season, we had requests for much more capacity than we could handle.
So we moved forward with two parties, and one of those parties has stepped out and decided that they are not going to pursue signing the agreements and making the commitment.
And so we reduced the size of the project.
That's the bad news.
The good news is one of the other players that wanted to get in, but couldn't, is now going to have an opportunity to come into the project.
So the project is going to be a bit smaller, but the returns actually go up on the project.
So we still think it's a very high quality project and one we are excited about pursuing.
And as you hinted at in your question that does leave us some additional capacity that we have to work with for new opportunities that we think are going to be out there.
Yes.
Sure.
I would just say the producers just continue to find ways to bring in additional production out there, as well, with developed very few rigs running, but continue to find ways to do that.
And, as well, are being very efficient with that.
We are seeing some things that are pretty interesting out there in terms of new development.
But, I think our hope for that right now in the current pricing environment is to keep driving our unit cost low and keep the volumes as flat as possible is our expectation.
The good news about the West relative to what we are seeing in the East is that there is plenty of takeaway capacity, plenty of infrastructure.
The gathering and processing costs are relatively low because it's older infrastructure that was built in a different pricing era.
And so, the variable cost or the cash cost to the producer to produce is relatively low.
So we really just haven't seen ---+ we've seen a very small, almost insignificant, amount of price-related shut-in, just like we would in any winter or shoulder month in the West.
But overall very low cost place for variable production and so we really don't expect a whole lot of change out there.
So lots of reserve.
Lots of known reserve and I think if we do see a price signal producers are ready to jump on it.
But we are not expecting anything dramatic out of that area.
And really proud of the team for working hard to keep our cash flows as steady as they have.
Considering how low the NGL markets have been.
Great question.
I would just say that we are really excited about that acreage dedication and think that once the infrastructure demand, or sorry the infrastructure constraints, are lifted out there and the firm obligations that various customers have out there, they will be working to take advantage of that firm capacity that they have.
And so feel pretty good about the prospects for that.
But I also would say that the way we are structured on that we are not obligated to go spend that money out in front of the production showing up.
And so we have ability to step into that so we are not going to be out spending capital in front of that drilling from a risk standpoint.
We do think that's very, very good acreage.
Some really impressive cost levels available to it and so we are really excited.
We have a very good vantage point of what people's production versus cost levels are and we're very excited about that acreage.
<UNK> you want to take that, please.
Sure glad to take it and thanks for the question.
First of all we are really pleased to be serving customers again back in Louisiana.
It just happened that as we brought Geismar back on, so did Evangeline come on and so the market was well served.
And I think looking back over our shoulder here in the last quarter the ethylene market was well served by production in that there were very few shutdowns or unexpected shutdowns.
And I think in at least one of the months I want to say it was July we saw industry high production.
So I think all of that led to perhaps a bit of oversupply or slightly long market in ethylene and the necessary price adjustments that occurred during the quarter.
I'll note though that over last weeks, two weeks notionally we recovered some of that price.
It's come back up probably on the order of about a nickel at this point.
And so just to take the conversation a little further forward to answer your question, finally, as we look forward and we look into we call it the second quarter of next year a couple of factors that will play positively is a very high turn around season.
And I think another factor that will play positively is relatively low inventories of ethylene by any public accounting, so certain that people are doing exchanges to fill their needs in next year.
But low inventories and high shutdown rates, planned shutdown rates certainly bode well for the supply demand balance, I think in our favor.
I hope that brings the necessary color and that's the way we see things playing out here over the next couple of quarters.
Thanks.
Forgot to mention on that.
We are always in the marketplace looking to secure the best value for our ethylene out there.
And we have been in conversations in I'll say past quarters, including this last quarter and we continue to have conversations with customers over whether or not they desire to enter into any contracts all including fee for service contracts.
And so we are trying to lock in some of the margins into the future.
Of course, in this dynamic price environment everyone sits across the table with rubber guns pointed at each other and we will see where those negotiations go over time.
We are always looking when it would appear to be favorable to us to lock up solid volumes and solid margins on Geismar 1.
Okay great.
Well thank you everybody for joining us this morning.
We really appreciate the interest and appreciate your respecting the scope of our discussion this morning as well, so thank you for that.
Also just want to say big thanks to the team here at Williams.
Great execution and just a lot of great focus on delivering the strategy that we have before us.
Appreciate all their attention to focus despite the many distractions we have had.
With that thanks again for joining us this morning and have a good day.
