Welcome To Pittsburgh, Natural Gas Hub of The Northeast

Murry S. Gerber has a vision for the natural gas industry and this country, one that includes the pipeline sector. In fact, if Gerber’s vision became reality, we would have the pipeline project to end all pipeline projects.

Gerber is executive chairman of EQT Corporation, a 120-year-old Pittsburgh-based company that traces its history back to the drilling of the first natural gas well by George Westinghouse in 1888.

Gerber’s first mission was to reorganize EQT from a regional natural gas utility into three segments: exploration & production with 14,000 gross production wells with 2009 gas volumes of 161,000 BBtus; midstream with more than 11,000 miles of gathering and transmission pipelines and 63 Bcf of storage; and natural gas sales with 275,000 customers.

In an effort to burnish the corporate image, he also directed a 2009 rebranding that changed the name of the company from Equitable Resources In., added a new logo and a new tagline, “Where Energy Meets Innovation.”

EQT is a key natural gas midstream player in the much talked-about Marcellus Shale in western Pennsylvania as well as the lesser-known Huron/Berea Shale located in eastern Kentucky, and southern West Virginia. Hence, the trained geologist is a very intense advocate for the development and increased use of natural gas.

“The shales that exist in this region provided an opportunity to develop and perfect technologies necessary to access reserves that were previously thought to be inaccessible. This has been a game changer in the significance of natural gas in this country’s energy future,” Gerber told P&GJ.

Two important events have led to EQT’s emergence in the shale play. One was its acquisition of significant shale reserves from Statoil in 2001, and its perfection of horizontal air-drilling techniques, which has exponentially increased EQT’s production levels.

The southside Chicago native worked in management roles for Shell Oil for nearly 20 years before he accepted the top position at EQT in June 1998. He was named Institutional Investor’s 2009 Natural Gas Executive of the Year. On April 21, he stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Porges, previously president and chief operating officer.

Today, EQT has emerged as the largest natural gas producer in the Appalachian Basin. Past successes combine with a promising future indicate much is in store for EQT, the natural gas industry, and most of all, the American public, Gerber believes.

Future For NGVs
Gerber foresees a bright future for natural gas-powered vehicles (NGVs). He suggests that the pipeline industry and the nation can hearken back to the 1950s for an important history lesson. The crowning achievement of the Eisenhower administration was the development of the interstate highway system. So why not build a matching pipeline infrastructure along that highway grid that could provide natural gas to regions lacking access to the fuel with a distribution system that could fuel NGVs?

That’s plenty to chew on, but Gerber believes it can be an essential component in reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil. Until now, NGVs have generated much talk but little else in the U.S.