EQT to acquire Rice Energy

PITTSBURGH, June 19, 2017 – EQT Corporation will enter into a merger agreement Rice Energy whereby it will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Rice common stock, the Pittsburgh-based company said in press release on Monday.

The transaction, valued at USD 6.7 billion, will raise EQT’s footprint in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. In the former, the company’s core acreage will be expanded from 757 square kilometres to 2,711 square kilometres. In the Utica shale, not including the Ohio portion, the company’s position will grow to 2,493 square kilometres.

“This transaction brings together two of the top Marcellus and Utica producers to form a natural gas operating position that will be unmatched in the industry,” EQT’s president and chief executive officer, Steve Schlotterbeck, said in a press release.

“Natural gas is the key to a cleaner energy world; and the combination of Rice and EQT – two of the United States’ largest, lowest-cost, and most responsible natural gas producers – creates an unparalleled leader in shale gas development that will benefit the environment and our shareholders for many decades to come,” Schlotterbeck’s counterpart at Rice Energy, Daniel J. Rice IV, said in the same release.

Rice Energy’s midstream assets are included in the deal with EQT, which will obtain a 92% stake in Rice Midstream GP Holdings.

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