EQT, an independent natural gas production company, agreed to acquire the upstream and midstream subsidiaries of Alta Resources, a crude oil exploration company, for $2.9bn. "Today marks another major milestone for EQT as we continue on our path to becoming the operator of choice for all of our stakeholders. The acquisition of Alta's assets represents an attractive entry into the Northeast Marcellus while accelerating our deleveraging path, providing attractive free cash flow per share accretion for our shareholders and adding highly economic inventory to EQT's already robust portfolio. In addition to increasing our long-term optionality, we believe this transaction accelerates both our path back to investment grade metrics and our shareholder return initiatives. We look forward to applying our differentiated modern operating model to maximize the prolific value embedded in these premier assets," Toby Rice, EQT President and CEO.