CHARLESTON, W.Va. — EQT Corp., one of the biggest players in natural gas drilling in West Virginia, has announced a sudden change at the top.
The company, which is also one of the developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, announced today that its president and chief executive officer, Steven Schlotterbeck, will step down immediately.
An announcement from the company cited personal reasons for the resignation. There was no elaboration.
“Steve was a valued contributor as EQT transformed from a regional, retail gas company into the largest natural gas producer in the United States,” EQT’s board stated in its announcement.
Schlotterbeck oversaw EQT’s $6.7 billion acquisition of Rice Energy Inc. late last year.
EQT is the largest independent natural gas producer in the United States.
The company’s board of directors appointed Schlotterbeck’s predecessor, David Porges, as interim president and chief executive officer.
Porges previously led EQT as executive chairman from March 2017 until February 2018, as well as a variety of leadership positions the years prior to that.
“Today, EQT is at an important transition point, and we are confident that the Company is well positioned to advance its strategy while implementing the previously announced separation plan,” the board stated in its announcement.
At the end of February, EQT announced that it plans to separate its upstream and midstream businesses, creating a standalone publicly traded corporation, NewCo, that will focus on midstream operations.
Boiled down, that means spinning off its pipeline operations.
“With the support of a strong and dedicated team, the Company is making solid progress and remains on track to complete the spinoff by the end of the third quarter 2018,” EQT stated today.
