Williams Completes Spinoff Of Its Oil And Gas Production Business

Over the weekend, shares of Williams' stock split – creating a new company in addition to Williams. The new company is called WPX Energy.

It employs 550 people at its headquarters in the BOk Tower in downtown Tulsa.

The financial transaction creating the new company was completed Saturday night, December 31, 2011. This was done via what is known as a "spinoff."

Williams shareholders received one share of WPX Energy common stock for every three shares of Williams stock they owned. WPX stock will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

WPX's CEO Ralph Hill will ring the New York Stock Exchange's Opening Bell Tuesday, January 3, 2012 in celebration of WPX's start as a stand-alone, independent company.

WPX's headquarters are located in downtown Tulsa in the BOk Tower, where the company's staff is located on nine different floors right now. Nationwide, WPX employs more than 1,200 people.

WPX Energy specializes in finding, drilling and producing new supplies of oil and natural gas. Most of the company's drilling activity is taking place in Colorado, North Dakota and Pennsylvania.