Commodities

EQT Agrees to Buy Range Resources in All-Stock Deal to Form Largest U.S. Natural Gas Producer

EQT will exchange 0.987 of its shares for each Range Resources share, a deal Reuters valued at $12.83 billion, creating a gas producer with more than $50 billion in enterprise value.

Oct 26, 2026 - 12:13

Updated: 1 hour ago

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EQT Corporation, the Pittsburgh-area natural gas producer, has agreed to acquire Appalachian rival Range Resources in an all-stock transaction that the companies say will create the largest natural gas producer in the United States. The deal was announced on Monday, October 26, 2026, and the companies said the combined business will have a pro forma enterprise value of more than $50 billion.

The merger brings together two of the major producers in the Appalachian Basin, the gas-rich region spanning Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, at a time when forecasters expect U.S. natural gas consumption to reach new highs on the back of liquefied natural gas exports and power demand from data centers.

Deal terms

Under the merger agreement, approved unanimously by both boards, each share of Range common stock will be exchanged for 0.987 shares of EQT common stock. EQT's existing shareholders are expected to own about 73% of the combined company, with Range shareholders holding about 27%.

Based on that ratio, the transaction values Range at $12.83 billion, or $54.91 per share, a 20.6% premium to Range's Friday close, according to a Reuters calculation. The companies expect the deal to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals, votes by shareholders of both companies and other customary conditions.

EQT's executive team will lead the combined company, which will keep its headquarters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Two Range representatives, including Range President and CEO Dennis Degner, will join EQT's board when the deal closes. Citi and RBC Capital Markets advised EQT, with Kirkland & Ellis as legal counsel; Evercore was lead financial adviser to Range, which was also advised by J.P. Morgan Securities, with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as legal counsel.

Scale and costs

According to EQT's release, the combined company will have more than 9 billion cubic feet equivalent per day of net production, more than 30 years of drilling inventory across nearly 3 million net acres, and more than 3,700 miles of midstream pipeline infrastructure. By comparison, Reuters noted that rival Expand Energy produced about 7.2 bcfe per day in 2025 and expects 7.4 to 7.6 bcfe per day in 2026.

The companies said they expect $325 million of base annual synergies within two years across corporate costs, operations and commodity marketing, with a path to more than $600 million over the long term. EQT said the deal should lower its unlevered free cash flow breakeven, defined as the average Henry Hub price needed to generate positive unlevered free cash flow, to less than $2 per million British thermal units. The companies project about $20 billion in cumulative free cash flow over the next five years at recent strip prices, and EQT said the all-stock structure is expected to provide BBB-quality credit metrics at closing. Free cash flow and the breakeven figure are non-GAAP measures as defined in the release.

What the CEOs said

"This transaction brings together two of the highest-quality, longest-duration asset bases in North America and creates a company uniquely positioned for the next era of natural gas," EQT President and CEO Toby Rice said in the release.

"This combination of two highly successful operators with decades of inventory creates opportunities to build long-term value neither could fully realize independently," Degner said, adding that Range's board unanimously determined the deal will let shareholders participate in what he called a constructive long-term natural gas and NGL outlook.

On a conference call, Rice said EQT now sees potential Appalachian gas demand rising to 25 billion cubic feet per day, up from its previous estimate of 20 bcfd, and that future production growth would be driven by customer demand rather than output targets, Reuters reported.

Demand backdrop and share moves

Reuters cited U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts showing domestic natural gas consumption rising from 91.9 bcfd in 2025 to 94.3 bcfd in 2027, driven by LNG exports and power demand from AI data centers.

In Monday trading, EQT shares were down 2.3% while Range Resources shares were up 16.7% at $53.14, below the implied offer value, Reuters reported.

As a result of the deal, both companies canceled their Q3 2026 earnings conference calls scheduled for October 28. They will still release third-quarter results after the market close on October 27.

Oil market context

The gas deal came on a volatile day for energy markets. Brent crude futures were down $2.03, or 1.7%, at $114.70 a barrel at 10:37 a.m. ET, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was down $2.60, or 2.5%, at $100.71, Reuters reported, amid hopes of easing tension between the United States and Iran after Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran on Sunday. Prices remained near six-month highs as the Houthis said they had struck pumping stations on Saudi Arabia's East-West crude pipeline over the weekend, and Saudi Arabia said it intercepted more missiles and drones.