Energy Transfer, Williams Trade Barbs as Gas Pipeline Spat Heats Up

There’s no love lost between Energy Transfer LP and Williams Cos.

The two pipeline giants hurled accusations at each other Wednesday and gave details of an ongoing court battle over building natural gas projects in Louisiana.

Energy Transfer has been accused of anticompetitive behavior after the company denied three projects from crossing its pipelines in Louisiana, sparking a legal fight affecting more than $2 billion of energy infrastructure. One of the companies impacted is Williams, which name-checked Energy Transfer on a Wednesday call with analysts.

Timm Schneider, founder of Schneider Capital Group and self-proclaimed “midstream dinosaur,” said in a research note that he can’t recall the last time he heard another company call out a peer by name, “which should fan the flames even more in this ongoing dispute.”

Energy Transfer Co-Chief Executive Officer Thomas Long said on a quarterly call with analysts that the company would like to provide context on the litigation “given that we have received a number of questions.” The allegations of the company stifling the competition are “unfounded and false,” he said.

“These parties are skirting state and federal regulations and regulatory oversight by seeking to quickly build large diameter pipe high pressure pipelines across state lines and calling them gathering,” Long said in reference to the smaller pipelines going from the wellhead to processing plants. Those gathering lines are not subject to the same regulatory scrutiny as larger pipes.

It wasn’t that long ago that Dallas-based Energy Transfer and Tulsa-based Williams were supposed to be one big happy family. But after an expensive and drama-filled breakup, the two pipeline giants are once again battling it out in court.

Now, Williams has pushed back its Louisiana Energy Gateway project to the second half of 2025 and has to reroute some of its planned pipelines amid the dispute, Chief Operating Officer Michael Dunn said at the company’s analyst day Wednesday. The company had previously said the project would go into service in late 2024.

“We’ve run into complications with Energy Transfer in regard to their easements that we’re attempting to cross,” Dunn said. “They’re utilizing their easements to basically block us and other pipeline companies from crossing them.”

In a statement, Energy Transfer said no court had found the company had “acted in bad faith” and that other pipelines must meet certain requirements before crossing the company’s lines.

“We have always embraced vigorous competition, while respecting property rights and playing by the rules,” spokesperson Vicki Granado said.