Key points
- EQT agrees to buy Range in an all-stock deal
- EQT's demand projections include projects still in planning
- EQT targets $325 million in annual savings
EQT Corporation (EQT) has agreed to buy Range Resources (RRC) in an all-stock deal worth about $12.8 billion, based on EQT's Friday closing price and Range's July share count. Announced Monday, October 26, the deal would expand EQT's Appalachian gas business as it pursues demand from power generators and data centers.
Range shareholders would receive 0.987 EQT shares for each share they own, so the offer's value will move with EQT's stock price. The companies say the combined business would be the largest U.S. natural gas producer, with an enterprise value exceeding $50 billion and more than 30 years of drilling inventory.
Range shares rose 14.9% to $52.28 at 11:59 a.m. Eastern on Monday, while EQT fell 4.0% to $53.41.
What Range shareholders get
At EQT's Friday close of $55.63, the exchange ratio was worth $54.91 per Range share, 21% above Range's Friday close of $45.52. The release doesn't state a premium or a per-share price. At Monday's 11:59 a.m. price, the offer was worth $52.72 per Range share, and Range traded 44 cents below that.
EQT shareholders would own about 73% of the combined company and Range shareholders about 27%. EQT's management team will run the business from EQT's headquarters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Two Range representatives, including chief executive Dennis Degner, will join EQT's board when the deal closes.
The companies expect to close in the first quarter of 2027. Shareholders of both companies have to approve it, and it needs regulatory clearance. Each side would owe the other a fee if the deal is terminated in certain circumstances, according to the 8-K. Range's fee is $423 million. EQT's is $1.148 billion.
The demand EQT is chasing
The press release doesn't use the words "data center" or "AI." It says the deal positions EQT as "the clear partner of choice for end users of natural gas" and improves its ability to serve "Appalachian demand growth." The investor deck is more direct. One slide maps announced and in-progress data center capacity next to EQT's sales routes, using data from Aterio.
Another slide charts projected Appalachian natural gas demand growth climbing to about 25 billion cubic feet a day by the mid-2030s. The chart is labeled as Appalachian gas demand and doesn't break out data centers. Most of the growth is marked "planned."
A dashed line labeled "demand secured," shown with EQT's logo, sits near 5 billion cubic feet a day. The slide doesn't say whether that line counts only EQT's contracts or all secured projects in the region.
EQT has also announced supply arrangements with power projects. In July 2025, Homer City Redevelopment named EQT its exclusive gas supplier under an agreement in principle, at up to 665,000 MMBtu a day. The gas would power a data center campus at the site of a former coal plant in Pennsylvania.
In July 2026, EQT signed a 10-year deal to supply 325,000 dekatherms a day to the CPV Shay Energy Center in West Virginia, priced off PJM power prices. President and chief executive Toby Rice said at the time that "power generators and data center developers increasingly look to secure reliable, long-term energy supply."
What the combined company would produce
The combined company would produce more than 9 billion cubic feet equivalent a day, about 88% of it natural gas, according to the deck. It would hold nearly 3 million net acres and more than 3,700 miles of pipelines.
EQT expects $325 million in annual savings within two years, from corporate costs, operations, and commodities marketing. It sees a path to more than $600 million over the long term. The companies project about $20 billion of free cash flow over five years at recent futures prices.
Rice said in the release that the deal "provides unique growth optionality underpinned by contractual demand." Degner said the combined company will be positioned "to capitalize on increasing demand for natural gas and liquids both domestically and internationally."
Both companies canceled their October 28 earnings calls. They still plan to report third-quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, October 27.
