EQT cuts finances by laying off an estimated 100
In a cost-cutting measure, natural gas producer EQT Corp. laid off a number of employees Monday.
Although a news release from the company did not specify how many were affected, three regional media outlets reported that more than 100 were furloughed.
The firm said in the statement: “With this reduction in force, we are removing management layers, streamlining functions and reducing shared services – creating a leaner, lower-cost and more-efficient organization that can make decisions faster. The decision to reduce head count was a difficult, but necessary step in our ongoing effort to enhance performance.”
EQT did not provide details on departments where the cuts occurred. The company said it will elaborate on the decision to streamline in “coming weeks,” when it announces its 2019 capital program.
Although based in downtown Pittsburgh, EQT has employees in Southpointe. It purchased Rice Energy Inc. — which was headquartered in the Cecil Township business park — for $6.7 billion in November 2017. EQT uses former Rice offices there, but a company spokeswoman was uncertain of the number employed there.
About 200 employees were laid off following the Rice transaction.
EQT could be on the verge of a proxy battle, pitting chief executive officer Rob McNally against Toby and Derek Rice, former Rice Energy executives. The Rice brothers, two of the three founders of the latter oil and gas company, signed an investor letter Dec. 10 expressing concern about the direction EQT was headed and recommending that Toby be installed as CEO.
The third founder, Daniel Rice IV, another brother, did not sign. He is an EQT board member.
Toby and Derek said in the letter they believed “strongly in the potential of EQT’s assets, but that the firm’s operational performance has translated into a severely depressed stock price.”
They requested a meeting with McNally, who told a newspaper Monday that has yet to occur, but is scheduled.
EQT said Monday it would provide more details about the savings from the head count reductions as well as its 2019 capital plans in the coming weeks. A previous conference call with analysts scheduled for mid-December was canceled due to a death in McNally’s family.