EQT, the second-biggest US natural gas producer, plans to pull more gas out of the ground in 2026 while spending less money than last year to meet growing global demand, CEO Toby Rice told Reuters on Tuesday.
He said record production will come despite curtailed production in recent months by EQT and others in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The producers are waiting for gas prices in the region to rise.
“We have a shut-in program. During times of low prices, we sell less. When prices are higher, we sell more,” Rice said.
“Having a business that’s able to throttle the production aligned with what the market requires… is one of the reasons we’ve been able to beat our pricing expectations,” Rice said.
He said EQT has benefited by a little over $200 million a year from its ability to sell less gas when prices are low and more when prices are high.
In its second-quarter earnings in July, EQT reduced 2026 maintenance capital spending guidance by $25 million to a range of $2.040 billion to $2.190 billion. It boosted its production guidance for the year by 0.25 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent per day (bcfed) to an average of 6.5 to 6.7 bcfed.
That compares with spending of of around $2.324 billion in 2025 to produce an average of 6.5 bcfed.
One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about five million US homes for a day.
On average, the US consumed a record 91.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas in 2025 and exported a record 24.6 bcfd as liquefied natural gas to the world or via pipelines to Mexico and Canada, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The EIA and other analysts expect US gas use to keep hitting record highs in coming years as demand surges to power data centers and for export as LNG and by pipeline.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
“We’re really pushing to find ways to expand demand for Appalachian molecules,” Rice said.
In August, EQT launched an open season for its proposed POWER pipeline project to move up to 1.0 bcfd of gas about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Pennsylvania to Ohio, where several firms plan to build or expand power-hungry data centers running artificial intelligence. EQT told prospective customers the pipe could enter service in January 2030 and Rice said the POWER pipe could move more than 1.0 bcfd depending on demand.
In addition to the proposed POWER pipe, EQT has been expanding its 2.0-bcfd Mountain Valley Pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia. That project, known as MVP Boost, is on track to add about 0.6 bcfd of capacity to the mainline in 2028. The MVP Southgate project is on track to start moving about 0.55 bcfd of gas from Virginia to North Carolina starting in late 2026.
On Monday, EQT signed a 10-year deal to supply about one LNG cargo per year to Lithuania’s majority state-owned energy firm Ignitis.
“We’re incredibly bullish on the international markets,” Rice said. He said EQT sees gas demand growing through 2040 by around 20 bcfd in domestic markets and by around 200 bcfd in international markets.
EQT will have about 6 million tonnes per year of LNG (roughly 0.8 bcfd of gas) available to sell around 2030-2031 when some LNG export plants under construction and development enter service, including NextDecade’s Rio Grande in Texas, Sempra’s Port Arthur in Texas and Caturus’ Commonwealth in Louisiana. That is about 15% of the company’s gas portfolio.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio)