Asset sales boost Williams shares; offer made for Geismar plant

(Tulsa, Oklahoma-AP) -- Williams Company's shares rose sharply Tuesday after it announced it would sell Lithuanian oil interests for 85 million dollars and that it's considering unsolicited offers

Tuesday, August 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Tulsa, Oklahoma-AP) -- Williams Company's shares rose sharply Tuesday after it announced it would sell Lithuanian oil interests for 85 million dollars and that it's considering unsolicited offers for two Louisiana petrochemical assets.

The Tulsa-based energy firm says it has agreed to sell its 26-point-85 percent interest in a Lithuanian oil refining and transportation system to Russia's largest private oil firm, YUKOS.

Williams also says it is considering unsolicited offers for its interest in an olefins production plant in Geismar, Louisiana, and an affiliated ethylene pipeline system.

Neither terms nor potential buyers were disclosed.

The Louisiana plant can produce up to one-point-35 (b) billion pounds of ethylene a year and is connected to markets by 300 miles of ethane and ethylene pipeline.

Williams owns 41-point-67 percent of the plant.