Williams bullish on natural gas prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Natural gas prices will remain high over the next few years but stay below recent peaks, the head of natural gas producer and pipeline company Williams Cos. Inc. (WMB.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) forecast on Monday.

Specifically, Williams CEO Steve Malcolm predicted natural gas prices will hover within a range of $5 to $10 per million British thermal units over the next few years.

"We continue to be generally bullish on gas prices," Malcolm said.

Natural gas prices have been rising in recent years thanks to tight supplies and growing demand but have fallen by nearly 60 percent since peaking above $15 in December.

"While I think there will be some volatility, perhaps not quite as much," said Malcolm.

Williams expects its own natural gas production to rise at about 15 percent to 20 percent through 2008 and is confident of sustaining growth of at least 15 percent beyond 2008, Malcolm said.

Saddled with massive debt following a sharp downturn in the power sector just a few years ago, Williams has bounced back by reorganizing to focus on its core natural gas operations.

Malcolm said Williams is still farther away from investment grade rating than one would expect due to its power business, but that will not hold the company back from pursuing any financial engineering options that it may want to consider.

The company, which operates about 14,600 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline, also expects its gas pipeline division to show profit growth in the single-digit range, or about 5 percent annually in the coming years, Malcolm said.

Williams also plans to continue to grow its master limited partnership business, and expects the recent interest in the MLP sector to continue, he said.

Malcolm also said Williams would shy away from mergers and acquisitions, citing the current high prices being paid for assets. None of its own assets are up for sale either, he said.