EQT to buy Range Resources in all-stock deal valuing combined company above $50B
What's the deal? EQT CorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has agreed to acquire Range ResourcesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in an all-stock merger, creating a US natural gas producer with a pro forma enterprise value of more than $50 billion. Both companies' boards approved the deal, announced October 26, 2026. It unites two Appalachian gas operators into what EQT calls the country's largest vertically integrated producer.
What are the terms? The combined company will hold more than 9 Bcfe/d of net production and over 30 years of inventory across nearly 3 million net acres, plus more than 3,700 miles of midstream infrastructure. EQT expects $325 million in base annual synergies within two years, with a path to more than $600 million long-term.
Why now? US natural-gas demand, including exports, rose 5% year over year in September 2026, and operators are positioning for growth in LNG exports. EQT says the deal lowers its free cash flow breakeven to under $2 per MMBtu, strengthening resilience through commodity cycles.
What's the endgame? The merger extends a strategy EQT began with its 2024 purchase of Equitrans MidstreamDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which added pipeline assets and targeted more than $425 million in annual synergies. The company projects roughly $20 billion in cumulative free cash flow over five years at recent strip pricing.
What could go wrong? The near-term gas picture is mixed: the Energy Information Administration forecast record-high storage entering winter, citing strong production and reduced LNG feedgas as reasons for softer prices. Shareholder and regulatory approvals, plus delivery on promised synergies, remain the key tests.
EQT President and CEO Toby Z. Rice said the combination creates a company "uniquely positioned for the next era of natural gas." Range CEO Dennis L. Degner said its board "unanimously determined" the deal would improve shareholders' exposure to a "constructive long-term natural gas and NGL macro outlook."
The signal: The tie-up is about strategic scale, not a supply crunch. As LNG-export markets expand, the deal reflects a wave of consolidation that is concentrating Appalachian gas under fewer, larger, lower-cost operators.
Read more: Financial Times
Image credit: USFWS Mountain Prairie
