Fort Worth-based Range Resources (NYSE: RRC) has agreed to be acquired by Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based EQT (NYSE: EQT). The $13 billion all-stock deal would bolster EQT’s status as the country’s No. 1 natural gas producer.

The merger of the two publicly traded companies would result in a natural gas producer with an enterprise value of more than $50 billion, EQT said. 

EQT’s executive team would run the company from EQT’s current headquarters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, meaning Fort Worth would lose a public company. Two Range Resources representatives, including President and CEO Dennis Degner, will join EQT’s board of directors once the deal closes.

Neither company has said what will happen to the Fort Worth headquarters and the employees who work there. Range also has an office in Canonsburg.

For now, Range Resources said it won’t change employees’ roles or responsibilities. Between Fort Worth and the Appalachian Basin, the company employs about 500 people. Both companies own significant holdings in the Appalachian Basin, the country’s largest region for natural gas production.

‘Major milestone’ for Range Resources

Dennis Degner was promoted from executive vice president and chief operating officer of Range Resources to president and CEO in 2023. [Photo: Range Resources]

“This merger is a major milestone in the Range Resources story,” Degner said during a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the deal. “Following the discovery of the Marcellus Shale more than 20 years ago, Range’s technical team has transformed that world-changing discovery into a high-quality drilling inventory measured in decades.” 

In a letter sent Monday to employees that was included in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Degner said the decision to be acquired by EQT “was guided by a shared vision to deliver a new level of scale, efficiency and success.”

EQT’s existing shareholders are expected to own about 73% of the combined company, and Range Resources’ shareholders are expected to own about 27%, EQT said.

“We believe the combination of asset quality, durability, market access and financial strength creates the strongest natural gas platform, not only in North America, but in the world,” Toby Rice, president and CEO of EQT, said during the conference call.

‘A class of their own’

Jeremy Knop, EQT’s chief financial officer, called Range Resources a “wonderful world-class asset” that will gain value as part of EQT.

“This combination takes two already differentiated companies and puts them in a class of their own,” Knop said during the conference call.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

“Together with EQT, we believe we will be in an even better position to realize the full potential of our asset base and meet the growing global demand for reliable energy for decades to come,” Degner said.

In the first half of the current fiscal year, Range Resources reported revenue of nearly $1.9 billion, up from more than $1.5 billion during the same period last year. By comparison, EQT reported revenue of $5.2 billion in the first half of this year, up from $4.3 billion during the same period in 2025.

Concentrating on the Appalachian Basin

The combined company will maintain a focus on the Appalachian Basin.

The basin produced 35 billion to 36 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in 2024, roughly one-third of total U.S. natural gas output. The bulk of the basin’s natural gas is in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Degner said the Appalachian Basin “remains the crown jewel of the world’s natural gas resources.”

Daily net production for the combined company would exceed the equivalent of 9 billion cubic feet, EQT said. Also, the company would boast more than 30 years of inventory across nearly 3 million net acres and more than 3,700 miles of midstream infrastructure.

History of Range Resources

Range Resources traces its start to 1976, when the company was founded as Lomak Petroleum, based in Hartville, Ohio. In 1980, the company reincorporated in Delaware and went public.

Twelve years after going public, the company moved its headquarters to Fort Worth, the same year it drilled its first Pennsylvania wells. In 1998, Lomak merged with Domain Energy to create Range Resources.