EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT) today announced that it intends, subject to
market conditions, to offer 12,500,000 shares of its common stock
through an underwritten offering. The common stock will be offered
pursuant to an effective registration statement filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The company intends to grant the
underwriters a 30-day option to purchase a maximum of 1,875,000
additional shares of its common stock.
EQT will use the net proceeds from the offering to accelerate
development of its Marcellus and Huron / Berea plays. As a result, the
company is raising its capital expenditures (CAPEX) estimate for 2010
from $850 million to $1.2 billion, excluding acquisitions. The company
is also raising its 2010 production sales growth guidance from 20% to
26%. Consistent with the fact that most of the volumes associated with
this investment will show up in late 2010 or in 2011, we would also
expect that the growth rate in 2011 would at least match that 2010
growth rate. The revised CAPEX estimate for 2010 includes $900 million
for drilling wells, $260 million for pipeline and compression to gather
and transport the gas to markets and $40 million for distribution
infrastructure projects and other corporate items.
"We are extremely confident in our capability to profitably develop our
extensive Marcellus and Huron / Berea asset positions, and therefore we
believe it is time to accelerate that development," commented Murry
Gerber, chairman and chief executive officer.
J.P. Morgan, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank
Securities are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus and related
prospectus supplement, copies of which, when available, may be obtained
by mail from the offices of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., c/o Broadridge
Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717,
Telephone: 1-866-803-9204; by mail from the offices of Barclays Capital
Inc., c/o Broadridge, Integrated Distribution Services, 1155 Long Island
Ave., Edgewood, New York 11717, Telephone (888) 603-5847 or by e-mail at barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com;
by mail from the offices of Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attn:
Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010 or
by telephone to (800) 221-1037; or by mail from the offices of Deutsche
Bank Securities Inc., Attn: Prospectus Department, 100 Plaza One, Jersey
City, New Jersey, 07311, by telephone at (800) 503-4611 or by email to prospectusrequest@list.db.com.
An electronic copy of the prospectus will be available on the website of
the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.
Cautionary Statements
Disclosures in this press release contain certain forward-looking
statements. Statements that do not relate strictly to historical or
current facts are forward-looking. Without limiting the generality of
the foregoing, forward-looking statements contained in this press
release include the expectations of plans, strategies, objectives and
growth and anticipated financial and operational performance of the
Company and its subsidiaries, including guidance regarding the Company's
drilling and infrastructure programs (including the Equitrans expansion
project), production and sales volumes, capital commitments and capital
expenditures, capital budget, financing plans (including number of
shares to be sold in this offering), and growth rate. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from projected results. Accordingly, investors should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction
of actual results. The Company has based these forward-looking
statements on current expectations and assumptions about future events.
While the Company considers these expectations and assumptions to be
reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business,
economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks and uncertainties,
most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the
Company's control. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the
operations, performance and results of the Company's business and
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those set
forth under Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of the Company's Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2009, as updated by any subsequent Form 10-Qs.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such
statement is made and the Company does not intend to correct or update
any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these
securities in any state or country in which such offer, solicitation or
sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any state or country.
EQT Corporation is an integrated energy company with emphasis on
Appalachian area natural gas production, gathering, processing,
transmission and distribution. Additional information about the company
can be obtained through the company's web site, http://www.eqt.com;
Investor information is available on that site at http://ir.eqt.com.
EQT Corporation uses its web site as a channel of distribution of
important information about the company, and routinely posts financial
and other important information regarding the company and its financial
condition and operations on the Investors web pages.
