Eastern Gas Compression Roundtable

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Eastern Gas
Compression Roundtable

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2025 Keynote Speaker

Toby Z. Rice

President and Chief Executive Officer

Toby Z. Rice is President and Chief Executive Officer of EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT), the leading natural gas producer in the United States. As an influencer and champion for the energy industry, Mr. Rice has been a strong proponent of unleashing American energy to strengthen energy security in the United States and to our allies around the world, while also achieving ambitious climate goals.

Professional Experience

Toby Z. Rice is the President and CEO of EQT Corporation, a role he assumed in July 2019 after leading a successful shareholder-led campaign to take over the company. Since taking the helm, Rice has spearheaded a remarkable transformation of EQT, positioning it as “America’s Natural Gas Champion.” Under his visionary leadership, EQT has significantly boosted its operational efficiency while, increasing productive capacity by 50%, reducing the corporate cost structure by 30%, and doubling profitability on a Free Cash Flow per share basis.

Mr. Rice’s strategic focus on sustainable operations has also led to impressive environmental milestones. EQT now boasts one of the lowest emissions intensities among natural gas producers worldwide. In October 2024, the company announced it had achieved net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its upstream operations – surpassing its initial target of 2025. His leadership reflects a commitment not only to operational excellence but also to driving the energy industry toward a cleaner, more efficient future.

In 2024, Mr. Rice led the final piece of the transformation with the successful acquisition of Equitrans Midstream Corporation, creating America’s only large-scale, vertically integrated natural gas business. This acquisition allows our workforce to deliver on our mission to provide more affordable, more reliable, cleaner energy to the world.

Since May 2018, Mr. Rice has also served as a Partner at Rice Investment Group, a multi-strategy fund investing in all verticals of the energy sector.

Prior to being appointed EQT’s President and CEO and a member of the Board of Directors, Mr. Rice served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Rice Energy Inc. Previously, he served in a number of positions with Rice Energy, its affiliates and predecessor entities.

Mr. Rice is a frequent keynote speaker at energy and climate conferences and events across the globe. In addition, he has served as an energy industry analyst appearing on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox Business and Fox News.

Education
Mr. Rice graduated from Rollins College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He completed his Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2024.

Industry/Community Leadership
Mr. Rice serves on the Board of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s American Energy Innovation Council and the National Association of Manufacturers. He is also a member of the American Exploration and Production Council’s Executive Committee.

Additionally, Mr. Rice serves on the Board of the EQT Foundation, which is committed to supporting the education and training of children and adults; the development of diverse, livable communities; and preserving our natural environments.

2024 Keynote Speaker

Justin Macken, Executive Vice President,
Pipeline Operations and Project Execution
Equitrans Midstream

Building large-scale natural gas infrastructure projects has become increasingly difficult in recent years, but there is still a significant need for additional capacity out of the Marcellus and Utica. Compression expansions have proven to be an effective means of adding capacity to existing pipeline networks and Equitrans Midstream has successfully executed on several of these projects.

Justin Macken was appointed executive vice president of pipeline operations and project execution for Equitrans Midstream Corporation in January 2024, having previously served as the Company’s senior vice president of gas systems planning and engineering since November 2018. Macken has decades of in-depth experience in the energy industry, including the implementation of strategic growth opportunities and business optimization efforts for the midstream sector.

In 2001, Macken began his energy career with Washington Gas, working in both engineering and construction support and, throughout his tenure, held numerous positions of increasing responsibility, including supervisor of system planning and manager of construction planning. In 2008, he joined EQT Corporation as manager of gas systems planning and was promoted to director and vice president of gas systems planning in 2010 and 2014, respectively. In these roles, Macken had oversight of the modeling, storage engineering, gas control, and gas management functions for the Equitrans transmission and gathering systems. Following the separation of EQT’s upstream and midstream business in November 2018, Equitrans Midstream Corporation became a standalone, publicly traded midstream company, and Macken was promoted to senior vice president of gas systems planning and engineering, with responsibility for Equitrans’ overall engineering function, as well as the Company’s water business segment.

A native of Virginia, Macken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and is a registered Professional Engineer and member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Inside the Fence: Trivia Question #6

Inside the Fence

Question:

What defect is indicated in this trace?

Answer #6:

Watch for the answer here.

If the answer is not posted above, enter your answer to the question and you may win some EGCR SWAG! Open to US residents only.

Inside the Fence: Trivia Question 3

Inside the Fence

Question #3:

Something is horribly wrong in this picture… What is it?

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ITF-3-989x1024.jpg

Answer #3:

The crankshaft is being loaded on to an arched trailer. This design will lead to the crankshaft being bent during transit. Crankshafts should be transported using cradles on true flat deck trailers with no arch.

Inside the Fence: Trivia Question 2

Inside the Fence

Question #2:

While this is a much smaller engine than we typically deal with, what can you discern from these piston faces?

Answer #2:

The edges of the piston are clean, which indicates an excessive amount of oil is present. This condition can impact emissions, increase oil consumption, cause carbon deposits in the ring lands, and ultimately increase operational costs.

Technical Tuesday: Cracked Up

Technical Tuesday

While this may look like a psychedelic machine shop, it is actually a tried and true method to evaluate a part for cracks. Every use for a black light is pretty cool. Want to know more about non-destructive test methods for oil and gas equipment? Visit us at the Eastern Gas Compression Roundtable on May 7-9, 2024 at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Tracing a crack using a black light

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Technical Tuesday: Valve Failure

Technical Tuesday

What does “about to have a come apart” actually mean? This failure is unique in that there were 2 contributing factors — in the highlighted circles, notice the visible thread width difference in red. Also, pay attention to the broken bolts in yellow. This failure was caused by overtightening of the bolt in red during installation. On the night of the failure, temperatures dropped to “once in a decade” kind of lows. The additional strain from overtightening and thermal contraction overwhelmed the smaller bolts in yellow. The result looks like Popeye’s spinach can. Want to learn about more failures and how to prevent them? Visit us at the Eastern Gas Compression Roundtable on May 7-9, 2024 at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

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Technical Tuesday: Fire Detection

Technical Tuesday

“It’s getting hot in here…” There are many ways to detect a fire in a compressor building, but the ones that can be found on the mountain tops of West Virginia win awards for ingenuity. This application uses a sprinkler head; but instead of water, it is hooked to an air-line that is pressure monitored by the panel. If a fire ignites and trips the sprinkler device, the panel senses the loss of air pressure and commences the emergency shutdown process. Want to meet the vendors and experts of fire detection? Visit us at the Eastern Gas Compression Roundtable on May 7-9, 2024 at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Fire suppression

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