EQT Corp (EQT.N) said on Tuesday it would sell its remaining interest in its non-operated natural gas assets in northeast Pennsylvania for $1.25 billion in cash to Equinor (EQNR.OL).
The sale comes just months after EQT sold a 40% interest in the assets to Equinor USA in exchange for the Norway-based company's onshore asset in the Appalachian basin and $500 million in cash.
Proceeds from the transaction, which is expected to close in the current quarter, will be used to help EQT shed its debt pile, which it accumulated after completing the $14 billion purchase of pipeline operator Equitrans Midstream in July.
Though the acquisition added more than 2,000 miles of pipelines to its portfolio, EQT's total debt increased substantially to $13.8 billion as of Sept. 30, compared to $5.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023.
Equinor will now hold a 40.7% working interest in the gas assets located in the Marcellus shale and will add nearly 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to its near-term U.S. production, the Norwegian firm said in a separate statement.
EQT also beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit, benefiting from higher sales volumes, which rose to 581 billion cubic feet equivalent (bcfe) in the three months ended Sept. 30, from 523 bcfe last year.
Rival Expand Energy (EXE.O), which dethroned EQT as the top U.S. producer after its $7.4 billion buy of Southwestern Energy, also posted a surprise profit for the quarter owing to a slight rebound in natural gas prices.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based EQT posted an adjusted profit of 12 cents per share for the quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of 6 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
