London, 18 February 2011

Maybe now Big Oil will take notice. Williams has followed mid-size peer Marathon Oil with a carve-up plan. The decision to separate the pipeline and exploration businesses immediately boosted Williams' market value by about $1.5 billion.

It's becoming more apparent that yoking such different operations together obscures value. The benefits of clarity have been progressively shining through. A year ago, Williams rejigged its corporate structure to help shareholders distinguish more easily among its jumble of assets. Then, too, Williams was rewarded with an immediate boost of around $1.4 billion. Since then, even before Thursday's announcement, the shares had gained nearly 30 percent.

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