What caused the drop in WMB's operating profit in Q1 2024?

The decrease in Williams' Operating Income in Q1 2024 can be attributed to several factors: 1. **Legal Settlement Gain**: The Q4 2023 net income increase was largely due to a $534 million gain from the favorable resolution of litigation with Energy Transfer. Such one-time gains do not consistently contribute to quarterly earnings, leading to a decrease in net income when they are not repeated in the subsequent quarter. 2. **Gas Marketing Margins**: The absence of favorable severe winter weather impacts in the prior year affected gas marketing margins, contributing to the decrease in net income. This indicates that the current quarter's earnings are influenced by weather-related factors that benefited the company less than usual. 3. **Upstream Business Results**: Lower results from the upstream business also partially offset the improvement in net income. This suggests that the performance of the upstream segment, which includes oil and gas exploration and production, had an impact on the overall earnings, contributing to the decrease in operating income. In summary, the drop in WMB's operating profit in Q1 2024 is primarily due to the absence of a one-time legal settlement gain from the previous quarter, lower gas marketing margins due to favorable winter weather not being present, and lower results from the upstream business.