EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT) said Feb. 13 it has agreed to pay about $54 million to settle with West Virginia landowners who have sued the company over royalty payments related to the construction of its Mountain Valley pipeline.

The energy company said the payment will resolve royalty claims for the period 2009 through 2017.

The $4.6 billion Mountain Valley pipeline will connect growing output in the Marcellus and Utica shale basins in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio with customers in other parts of the U.S. and Canada.

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Last year, a federal court vacated a permit handed over to EQT for the pipeline, after environmental groups said the permit allowed the company to cross rivers in West Virginia.

EQT said in October it still expects to finish the 303-mile pipeline in the fourth quarter.

"EQT is working diligently to resolve this matter with our leaseholders and earn their confidence, as well as that of other West Virginia residents and community leaders," EQT CEO Robert McNally said in a statement on Feb. 13.