EQT expands Gulf Coast footprint as CEO Toby Rice pursues a global LNG strategy

EQT Corp. continues to expand its liquefied natural gas business, with a long-term storage contract on the Gulf Coast and a 10-year sales agreement with a Lithuanian energy provider.

That’s beyond the Southpointe-based natural gas producer’s $13 billion all-stock deal announced Monday for another big Marcellus name, Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC). The merger is expected to be completed in the first quarter. It will return EQT to the title of the largest independent natural gas producer in the United States.

EQT (NYSE: EQT) said it had reached a contract with Leaf River Energy Center’s salt dome expansion project for 7 billion cubic feet of storage. Financial terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. But it will be a boost for EQT’s LNG strategy, which includes producing, marketing and shipping its own LNG and others. EQT said the Leaf River contract gives it 11 billion cubic feet of storage along the Gulf Coast, the country’s center for LNG exports.