Range Resources’ position on the East Coast is turning into a benefit as the U.S. and China continue to trade blows over tariffs, said CEO Dennis Degner.

The gas producer, with assets based primarily in Appalachia, uses a diverse distribution system for its products. The strategy has helped the company handle Washington's turmoil.

“When you look at pricing for us and transport, having access to markets or terminal out of the East Coast is really beneficial,” Degner said during the company’s first quarter earnings call on April 23. “We've talked about that a lot over the past several years, and we think moments like this put it on full display.”

In the first quarter, Range maintained 2.2 Bcfe/d, underpinned by strong well performance and improved field runtime despite weather challenges in January and February.

The company drilled approximately 250,000 lateral ft across 18 laterals using two horizontal rigs and a single completion crew, a strategy designed to save capital while expanding resources. Range set a new drilling record, averaging 5,961 ft per day.

Regardless of the current political climate, the company sees continued growth. On April 8, Range announced it was joining a partnership with Liberty Energy and Imperial Land Corp. to develop a massive power plant project in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The facility is located next to Range’s discovery well from 20 years ago. The proposed power facility is expected to attract data centers and industrial operations seeking long-term power supplies where reliability is key.

“It just makes a lot of sense for those kind of opportunities to emerge and develop, when you think about the alignment between the five nines of reliability that those pieces of infrastructure and entities are looking for,” Degner said. (‘Five nines’ refers to the standard that data centers must be online for 99.999% of the time.)

For the quarter, Range generated $183 million in free cash flow, which it used to reward shareholders and strengthen its balance sheet, executives said. The company repurchased $68 million in shares, paid $22 million in dividends and reduced net debt by $42 million.

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