EQT Corporation said Monday it is acquiring fellow Appalachian gas producer Range Resources in an all-stock deal that creates a combined company with a pro forma enterprise value exceeding $50 billion, according to a joint announcement filed with the SEC.

Under the terms, each Range share converts into 0.987 shares of EQT common stock. When the deal closes, EQT's current shareholders are expected to hold roughly 73% of the combined company, with Range's shareholders holding about 27%.

A Natural Gas Colossus

Together, EQT and Range say the new company will pump more than 9 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, with over 30 years of drilling inventory spread across nearly 3 million net acres in the Appalachian Basin. The combined firm will also control more than 3,700 miles of midstream pipeline infrastructure, giving it what the companies describe as the country's largest natural gas marketing platform.

"This transaction brings together two of the highest-quality, longest-duration asset bases in North America," EQT President and CEO Toby Z. Rice said in the announcement.

CREATES OPPORTUNITIES TO BUILD LONG-TERM VALUE NEITHER COULD FULLY REALIZE INDEPENDENTLY

Range Resources President and CEO Dennis L. Degner used that line to describe the logic of the tie-up, framing the deal as a way to pool scale that neither driller could match on its own in a basin already dominated by a handful of major operators.

The companies say the merger also improves EQT's free cash flow breakeven — the average Henry Hub gas price needed to turn a profit after capital spending — by combining low-cost inventory and trimming overlapping costs.

What's Next

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending shareholder votes at both companies, regulatory clearance and other customary conditions. It lands as U.S. gas producers race to lock up supply for a wave of new LNG export terminals and gas-fired power plants feeding the AI-driven data center boom, a dynamic that has made Appalachian shale assets newly attractive to buyers betting on years of strong demand.

Shareholders of both companies will need to approve the merger before it can proceed, and antitrust regulators are expected to review the tie-up given the scale of the combined company's Appalachian footprint.