Wyoming’s Wamsutter Field sprawls 2,000 square miles across two counties on the eastern side of the Green River Basin. Discovered in the late 50s, the Wamsutter is a natural gas giant, attracting some of the nation’s largest midstreamers over the years to gather, process, and transport abundant production. Tulsa-based Williams is one of them. You can now add upstream to their repertoire.

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest news from Williams, which operates 4,581 miles of gathering and transmission pipelines, major processing plants in Echo Springs and Opal, and significant assets with ties to Wyo. The company formed a JV in 2021 with Denver-based E&P Crowheart Energy to further maximize the value of its natural gas and NGL infrastructure in the Wamsutter by consolidating legacy upstream positions held by Crowheart, BP, and Southland Royalty into a single asset. And it’s a Whopper with cheese—1.2 million acres, 3,500+ wells, and 3,000+ development locations. Williams took a 75% stake in the JV; Crowheart, the other 25% and operate.

Then something interesting happened last year. Williams bought out Crowheart’s JV stake for $307 million, giving the former 100% control of the Green River upstream asset. Even more interesting, the natural gas midstream machine is now landing laterals in the oily Lewis Shale play. This, while adding more muscle to its MountainWest Overthrust Pipeline—one of few options to flow gas to the West Coast.