EQT President and CEO Toby Z. Rice joined Bloomberg during Climate Week 2026 to discuss the growing role of U.S. natural gas in meeting rising energy demand at home and around the world.
The conversation covered global energy security amid supply disruptions, the rapid growth of electricity demand from AI and data centers and the infrastructure needed to deliver affordable, reliable energy.
Rice also discussed EQT’s business strategy and outlook, energy infrastructure expansion and bottlenecks and the evolving U.S. energy policy landscape.
As AI, electrification and global energy needs driv...
What Toby Rice said
Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.
Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation, discussed the natural gas market, emphasizing that U.S. energy independence has shielded Americans from global price spikes, with European gas at $25 per MCF versus U.S. prices down 10-20%. He argued that the global LNG ecosystem's growth from 50 to 60 BCF per day, with U.S. exports rising from 10 to over 20 BCF per day, has stabilized prices. Rice called for more pipeline and LNG infrastructure, blaming New York's blockade for high New England prices and advocating permit reform. He noted that electricity prices rose 50% and natural gas demand for electrification is up 10-18%, with data centers taking 40% of that. He criticized the shutdown of 174 gigawatts of reliable power and public opposition to data centers, comparing AI to fracking. He mentioned EQT's purchase of a propane facility in New England and stressed that high energy bills are self-inflicted due to infrastructure barriers.
Key takeaways
U.S. natural gas prices are down 10-20% while Europe pays $25 per MCF, showing the value of energy independence.
Global LNG ecosystem grew from 50 to 60 BCF per day, with U.S. exports rising from 10 to over 20 BCF per day, stabilizing prices.
Electricity prices in the U.S. are up 50%, and natural gas demand for electrification is up 10-18%, with data centers taking 40%.
Over 174 gigawatts of reliable power generation (coal and nuclear) have been shut down, creating a supply gap.
EQT purchased a propane facility in New England to address energy shortages.
Well, our next guest here in the studio has had a front-row seat to the natural gas market. Nat gas, by the way, down more than 20% this year, down close to 12% since late June. Back with us is Toby Rice, president and CEO of EQT Corporation, the nearly $31 billion market cap vertically integrated natural gas and energy company. Toby, it has been a year since you last were on our program. A lot has happened in the last year. What has this been like for your world?
Specifically the crisis, I think is a really remarkable opportunity to talk about just big-picture dynamics because we've talked so much about how valuable America's energy independence is. And as you mentioned in the opening remarks, natural gas price is down 20%. You know what's happening around the world? International prices in Europe, they're up two and a half times. $25 natural gas prices in Europe, and in the United States, they're down 10% to 20%. This is the value of America's energy independence. And what this tells you is that thanks to the shale revolution, thanks to companies like EQT, we successfully protected Americans from these geopolitical shocks, specifically on the natural gas front. I do also think it's important to draw some parallels between this crisis and what's happened in the prior gas crisis when the bombs dropped in Ukraine because this tells us a little bit more about where we should be going in the future. We believe we need to be building bigger LNG ecosystems. Because what's taken place when the bombs dropped in Ukraine, we lost about 10 BCF a day of supply. That was the Russian pipe gas. Prices shot up to over $40 per MCF average. We see a similar amount of natural gas supply disruption. 10 BCF a day of LNG flows are not coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, but this time, we saw natural gas prices only rise to $25 internationally. What's the difference between then and now? Back then, the global LNG ecosystem was about 50 BCF a day. Today, it's 60. And the players that are supplying that LNG, the United States was exporting 10 BCF a day back then. Today, we make a much bigger part of the market supplying over 20 BCF a day. It just shows you how important energy independence is for America and how important America is in providing energy security to the world.
In the United States, what's really remarkable about these energy ecosystems, we have places in this world where energy prices are incredibly affordable. To give you perspective, $3 natural gas, which is around where the prices are, is less than 50 cents per gallon of gasoline here in the United States. But you go across the world and they're paying over $25 for the natural gas. That is the energy equivalent to close to almost $200 per barrel, okay? So, these price differences that you see is all dependent on the amount of infrastructure you have to create these markets. We see it happening on a global stage. We see it happening here in the United States. And a great example of what's going to take place this winter, I'm going to be selling gas for, call it, $3. And in a short distance away in New England, they're going to be paying some of the highest natural gas prices in the world.
We don't have the pipeline infrastructure to get there. So, the answers to all this is more pipeline infrastructure in the United States, more LNG infrastructure and regasification terminals and associated pipelines around the world. That's how we create a more stable space with a situation where the world can meet the demand with the supply.
Let's talk about the New England example, the Northeast example. How difficult, like what are the biggest challenges in getting that infrastructure in place, that pipeline in place? Is it all local?
It's really, New York has really blockaded New England from getting the energy infrastructure they need. This is why we need to see permit reform so that states can stop weaponizing their ability to get energy infrastructure. I mean, it's a really sad state of affairs when the governor of New York has more influence over the energy policy than the governors of Massachusetts, the governors of Rhode Island.
Because you have to go through the state. And this is one of those unique remarkable things where we see the market forces are saying, 'Bring us more energy.' Like I said, natural gas prices in New England are going to be some of the highest in the world this winter. We see the market forces, but political force has blocked the ability for market forces to work. We need to get back to a place where market forces rule. Market forces drive the cheapest, most reliable, cleanest energy to the marketplace. And we need a regulatory environment that allows that to happen. It's been quite a challenge the last 8 years. And this is a result, what we're seeing across the country is we're seeing, thanks to, we're still producing. But we're producing record amounts of energy in this country. We've never produced more than we are right now. Now, oil and natural gas, yet despite that, Americans' energy bills are up over 40%. That's a head-scratcher. How can that happen? It's because political force has blocked market forces. We need to get back to building infrastructure. And the solution is going to, unfortunately, it's going to take some political force to get us back in line. It's why we've been advocating for permit reform. A year ago, we're advocating for it today. We think it's one of the most important things that we can do in this country to lower bills for Americans and help support our allies.
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Rice, T. (2026, September 22). EQT CEO Toby Rice on Bloomberg: Natural Gas, AI Data Centers & Energy Security [Interview transcript]. EQT Corporation. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2918203/
MLA
Toby Rice. "EQT CEO Toby Rice on Bloomberg: Natural Gas, AI Data Centers & Energy Security." EQT Corporation, 22 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2918203/.
BibTeX
@misc{rice2026_2918203,
author = {Toby Rice},
title = {EQT CEO Toby Rice on Bloomberg: Natural Gas, AI Data Centers \& Energy Security},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, EQT Corporation. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {sep},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2918203/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
