Equinor in $1.25bn deal to acquire Marcellus assets from EQT
Norway’s Equinor said October 29 it had entered into an agreement to acquire additional non-operated interests in the Northern Marcellus of Pennsylvania from EQT for $1.25bn.
Equinor said the transaction represents 100% of EQT’s remaining working interest in the Northern Marcellus gas units, which are primarily operated by Expand Energy, formerly Chesapeake Energy before it acquired Southwestern Energy in September 2024.
Separately, EQT said the assets represent about 350mn ft3/day of forecasted 2025 net production, while Equinor said they will add about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe)/day to its US production in the near term.
The planned acquisition covers the same Northern Marcellus acreage included in a swap agreement between Equinor and EQT announced in April. It increases Equinor’s interest in the assets to 40.7% from 25.7%.
“We continue to high-grade Equinor’s international portfolio in line with our strategy, improving robustness by adding more natural gas volumes in a core market where we produce with low break-evens and low intensity upstream emissions,” said Philippe Mathieu, Equinor’s executive vice president for international exploration and production. “We are well positioned in this premium acreage to capitalise on positive long-term demand indicators in the US gas market.”
EQT said the transaction has an effective date of December 31, 2024 and is expected to close in Q4 2024, subject to required regulatory approvals and clearances.