EQT CEO Toby Rice Pulls Back the Curtain on Tug Hill $5.2B Deal
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that EQT Corporation is buying the West Virginia assets of Tug Hill Operating–the company’s THQ Appalachia operation–for $5.2 billion (see Confirmed: EQT Buys Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $5.2 Billion). The deal adds roughly 90,000 leased acres (mainly in Marshall and Wetzel counties) to EQT’s massive existing footprint. It also adds an extra 800 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of production to EQT’s current 5.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). EQT CEO Toby Rice went on the record with the Pittsburgh Business Times to share his reasoning and thoughts behind the Tug Hill acquisition. Rice pulled back the curtain, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how deals like this come together. One of the big motivations for Rice is that he loves loves loves Marshall County, WV.
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The rumors were right. Yesterday we brought you the news (rumors), as reported by both Reuters and Bloomberg, that EQT Corporation was about to seal a deal to buy Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia operation with major assets in West Virginia (see 
After several weeks of anemic permit numbers for Pennsylvania, last week PA came roaring back by issuing 30 permits to drill new shale wells. Some 12 of those permits went to Coterra Energy for two pads in Susquehanna County. EQT (aka Rice Drilling) received six permits for a single pad in Greene County, and Chesapeake Energy also received six permits split between two pads–one pad in Bradford County and the other in Lycoming County.
This is one of those more bizarre court cases we’ve heard about. In April 2021, MDN reported that a group of West Virginia landowners/rights owners filed a claim against EQT, alleging the company had allowed leases to lapse, then at a later date, reentered their property and drilled new wells without permission (see 
Tug Hill Operating is focused on acquiring, exploring, developing, and producing oil and natural gas in the onshore U.S. with a primary focus on the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachia Basin (Southwest Appalachia in West Virginia, and Northeast Appalachia in Pennsylvania), Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, Niobrara Shale in the Rockies region, and other select basins and formations. According to sources speaking with Reuters, Tug Hill is looking to divest its West Virginia assets for $5 billion.
Holy smokes! What just happened? For months (and months and months) the cumulative number of weekly permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica has fluctuated from the low teens to perhaps 30 total on the upper end. Last week, from Jan. 17-23, an amazing 61 permits were issued to drill new shale wells. Double the usual. Wow! Pennsylvania issued 24 new permits, Ohio issued 9, and blow-the-doors-off-we’ve-never-seen-so-many-permits-issued-in-one-week for West Virginia, the Mountain State issued 28 new shale permits.