EQT Corporation Announces Common Stock Offering; Increases Production Sales Growth Guidance to 26%

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Mar 09, 2010, 04:06 ET

PITTSBURGH, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 [email protected]; 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 [email protected]. 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.