For Investors Only -- Spotlight on Williams Cos -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Readers know that one of my favorite sectors is "pipeline." And in that sector, I accumulate shares in Enbridge and Williams. I won't be making any new purchases of either in the foreseeable future. All my discretionary / disposable income -- whatever -- is going to wife, daughters and granddaughters. Smile. Maybe next year.

So, this posting is simply because I enjoy following the pipelines. (My favorite sector, by the way, might be railroads, but again, I digress.)

From Barron's, "Tap Into the Unlocked Value of Williams." (This link may break.)

With the proliferation of U.S. natural-gas land drilling in landlocked terrain, gas pipelines are a hot asset, as witnessed by Kinder Morgan's planned $21 billion purchase of rival El Paso to form the powerhouse among America's pipeline operators.

Left in the dust following the mid-October deal: Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Companies, an undervalued energy play that operates pipelines, processing and an exploration-and-production business that -- with its focus on low-priced natural gas -- looked less sexy than El Paso's assets.

But Williams, with a market capitalization of roughly $18 billion, has two striking attributes. First off, it sports a rising dividend, boosted by tax-deferred pipeline profits wrapped in a master limited-partnership structure. Then there's the pending tax-free spinoff of its E&P business to shareholders, which should unlock the value of both the E&P and pipeline businesses.

The spinoff will highlight the pipelines' reliable earnings from long-distance fees. The MLP, Williams Partners (WPZ), controls interstate pipelines and gas-gathering assets, and has a market capitalization of almost $17 billion. 

The rest of the article is worth reading. I read the article, not so much with WMB in mind, but the entire natural gas gathering and processing industry. Something just tells me that this will be the decade of energy for the US (2011 - 2021).