Energy Transfer and Williams are two of the largest midstream operators in the United States, together controlling more than 170,000 miles of pipeline across 44 and 24 states respectively. On the trading day, ET stock edged up 0.74% to $21.21, while WMB gained 1.49% to $72.88.
According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas supplies over 40% of the grid electricity consumed by U.S. data centers, a share that is expected to rise as hyperscale cloud providers and artificial‑intelligence workloads expand.
Energy Transfer moves a broad mix of commodities – crude oil, natural gas, natural‑gas liquids and refined products – and also operates LNG export terminals. Its pipelines carry roughly 30% of U.S. natural‑gas production, but only about 40% of its adjusted EBITDA comes from natural‑gas assets.
Williams, by contrast, owns the Transco system, the nation’s largest natural‑gas pipeline network, which also transports about a third of all U.S. natural gas. All of Williams’ adjusted EBITDA is derived from natural‑gas operations, making it a “pure‑play” on the sector that powers AI data centers.
The structural differences translate into distinct market valuations. Williams trades at roughly 14 times this year’s adjusted EBITDA, while Energy Transfer trades at about 7 times. Williams offers a dividend yield of 2.9%, compared with Energy Transfer’s higher 6.5% yield, but the latter’s earnings are more exposed to the volatile crude‑oil market and to the additional tax paperwork required of master‑limited partnerships.
Analysts therefore argue that Williams stands to capture a larger share of the long‑term revenue surge expected from AI‑driven natural‑gas demand, even as both firms benefit from the current growth in cloud‑infrastructure power consumption.