Expand sticks to production, spending plans and 2026 ramp potential
The leaders of Expand Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, have reiterated their growth forecast for 2025 after a first quarter in which natural gas production slightly exceeded the midpoint of their forecast. Executives also are keeping on the table their option to devote up to $300 million to grow capacity in 2026.
In this year's first quarter, Expand’s total production from holdings in the Haynesville and Appalachian basins averaged nearly 6.8 cu ft equivalent/day (bcfed), a bit higher than the midpoint of the 6.7-6.8 bcfed range president and chief executive officer Nick Dell’Osso and his team had guided to in February (OGJ Online, Feb. 27, 2025). The company’s operations in the Haynesville and Southwest Appalachia outperformed expectations for the quarter; wells turned in line totaled 89.
Expand teams were able to control costs early this year: Capital spending during the quarter totaled $662 million versus a forecast midpoint of about $712 million and combined production, gathering, processing and transportation expenses came in at $1.24 per bcf of projected production, compared with $1.31 late last year.
Looking to the current quarter, Expand expects total production to climb to 7.1-7.2 bcfed. Assets in the Haynesville will lead the way, with output there projected to grow more than 12% to about 2.95 bcfed as teams turn in line more of the unfinished wells they prepared last year amid low commodity prices. In all, Expand still plans to run about 12 rigs this year—that number was 11 in the first quarter—with the potential to grow the rig count to 15 as a way of setting up a 2026 production ramp if prices justify doing so.
On the earnings front, Expand posted a first-quarter net loss of $249 million on total revenues of nearly $2.2 billion. Adjusted for a $969 million unrealized loss on derivatives, net income was $487 million compared with $80 million in early 2024, before then-Chesapeake Energy combined with Southwestern Energy to form Expand (OGJ Online, Feb. 13, 2024).
Shares of Expand (Ticker: EXE) were down nearly 4% to $103 and change in midday trading April 30. Over the past 6b months, however, they are still up more than 16%, which has grown the company’s market capitalization to about $24.6 billion.
Geert De Lombaerde | Senior Editor
A native of Belgium, Geert De Lombaerde has more than two decades of business journalism experience and writes about markets and economic trends for Endeavor Business Media publications Healthcare Innovation, IndustryWeek, FleetOwner, Oil & Gas Journal and T&D World. With a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, he began his reporting career at the Business Courier in Cincinnati and later was managing editor and editor of the Nashville Business Journal. Most recently, he oversaw the online and print products of the Nashville Post and reported primarily on Middle Tennessee’s finance sector as well as many of its publicly traded companies.