ONEOK stock rose 1.7% in morning trading after the company unveiled a deal to acquire Brazos Midstream's natural gas gathering and processing assets in the Permian Midland Basin for $4.425 billion in cash. ^[1] Pipeline giant Williams acquired Momentum Midstream and its Texas and Louisiana pipeline facilities for $5.5 billion. ^[2] ONEOK intends to apply $5 billion of the proceeds toward retiring existing debt, which is projected to bring its pro forma 2027 leverage ratio down to approximately 3.25 times debt-to-EBITDA. ^[3] The acquisition is funded through a $9 billion nonvoting minority equity investment from Apollo-managed funds, with no dilution to existing common shareholders. ^[4] The transaction is expected to more than double ONEOK's combined Midland Basin processing capacity to roughly 2.3 billion cubic feet per day, including plants currently under construction. ^[5] US natural gas production has more than doubled since 2006 and is projected to rise another 35% by 2050 to 150 billion cubic feet per day. ^[6]