EQT Corporation has entered into a merger agreement to buy Equitrans Midstream Corporation and create an integrated U.S. natural gas company with an initial enterprise value exceeding $35 billion, the top American natural gas producer said on Monday.
In the latest merger deal in the U.S. oil and gas industry, EQT will combine with Equitrans, which has strategically located infrastructure assets in the Marcellus and Utica regions and is a shareholder in the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, expected to carry natural gas from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia, and a possible extension to North Carolina.
EQT will acquire Equitrans in an all-stock transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to required regulatory approvals and clearances, approval of the transaction by shareholders of both EQT and Equitrans and other customary closing conditions. The transaction closing is also contingent on FERC authorizing the Mountain Valley Pipeline to commence service.
The transaction is set to create “America’s first large-scale, integrated natural gas producer with an unrivaled low-cost structure that provides investors with the best risk-adjusted exposure to natural gas prices,” EQT said.
The new company will ensure connectivity in EQT’s core area of operations, it added.
“Equitrans is the most strategic and transformational transaction EQT has ever pursued, and we see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to vertically integrate one of the highest quality natural gas resource bases anywhere in the world,” EQT president and chief executive Toby Rice said in a statement.
“As we enter the global era of natural gas, it is imperative for U.S. natural gas companies to evolve their business models to compete on the global stage against vertically integrated rivals.”
The deal announced today follows other mergers in the midstream in recent months, as well as the January announcement of the merger of Chesapeake Energy Corporation and Southwestern Energy, which will create the biggest U.S. natural gas producer by market value and production.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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