Natural gas producer EQT Corp said on Tuesday it will buy U.S. oil major Chevron Corp's assets in the Appalachian basin for $735 million.
The deal includes about 100 work-in-progress wells, acreage in the Marcellus basin and a 31% stake in Laurel Mountain Midstream, a joint venture between Chevron, producer Laurel Mountain and pipeline operator Williams Cos Inc.
EQT’s shares fell nearly 4% in after-market trading after it launched an offering of 20 million shares to partially fund the deal alongside cash and borrowings.
The deal comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has slashed energy demand, sent oil prices to historic lows earlier this year and forced producers to cut costs, curtail production and seek consolidation to weather a downturn.
Reuters reported last month that EQT had placed a bid on Chevron’s Appalachia gas properties and a pipeline stake.
Chevron last year said it was considering a sale of the properties and took an $8.17 billion charge to earnings to write down their value and an unrelated U.S. offshore project.
Jefferies LLC acted as EQT’s financial adviser for the deal.
Source: Reuters
