EQT's $12.8 Billion Range Resources Bet Is Built Around 2028 Gas Demand
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 11, 2026.
How Natural Gas Drillers Are Scaling Up To Meet AI Energy Demand
- Toby Rice frames the $12.8 billion all-stock Range Resources buy as creating the largest US gas producer
- He pegs AI-driven turbine orders at roughly 14 Bcf/day, enough to power 20 New York cities
- Over 25 Bcf/day of demand inquiries fielded in Appalachia, with volumes landing from 2028
- Sub-$2 break-even cost structure cited as the reason EQT needs little hedging
Rice is telling holders the Range deal is a bet placed three years early: the data center gas demand he describes does not show up until 2028, and he wants the acreage and the sub-$2 break-even in hand before it does. He also ties the upside to permit reform in Washington, which makes policy the swing factor for both names.
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Toby Rice, president and CEO of EQT, frames the all-stock acquisition of Range Resources as a deliberate move to get ahead of a demand wave that he does not expect to fully materialize until 2028. The logic is straightforward: secure the acreage and the cost structure now, before the market prices in what AI-driven power consumption will do to natural gas volumes.
Rice pegs AI-driven turbine orders at roughly 14 billion cubic feet per day, with contracted volumes expected to begin landing from 2028.
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The combined company would be the largest natural gas producer in the United States, and Rice points to a sub-$2 per unit break-even cost structure as the reason EQT can afford to operate with little hedging. That low-cost position is central to the investment case: it means the company can remain profitable even if prices stay soft in the years before the demand surge arrives.
Rice also ties a meaningful portion of the upside to permit reform in Washington. That makes federal policy a genuine swing factor for both EQT and Range Resources shareholders, adding a layer of political risk and optionality that sits alongside the AI energy thesis itself.
