Chesapeake, Southwestern close $7.4bn merger as Expand Energy
Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy said October 1 they had closed on their previously announced $7.4bn business combination and rebranded the combined company as Expand Energy.
With the close, Expand Energy supplants EQT as the largest independent US natural gas producer, with pro forma Q2 2024 gas production of some 6.3bn ft3/day compared to EQT’s Q2 production of about 5.2bn ft3/day. Chesapeake, Southwestern and EQT all said over the summer they would curtail production due to weak natural gas prices.
“As America’s largest natural gas producer and a top producer globally, Expand Energy is built to disrupt the industry’s traditional cost and market delivery model,” Expand Energy CEO Nick Dell’Osso said. “We will expand opportunity for shareholders and consumers alike by enhancing margins and reaching more markets, reducing the overall cost of energy.”
Expand Energy’s core operating areas will be in the Haynesville shale basin of Louisiana and the Appalachia shale basin in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.
The combined company will begin trading on the NASDAQ exchange on October 2 under the ticker EXE and will release its Q3 2024 financial results after the close of business on October 29.