en.Wedoany.com Reported - Range Resources Corp. (hereinafter referred to as Range), headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is postponing part of its second-half drilling plans to 2027 as the operations team prioritizes reducing the backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs).

In the second quarter, Range drilled approximately 190,000 feet of horizontal laterals across 11 wells and brought about 300,000 feet into sales through 21 wells. The company completed nearly 1,900 frac stages across its operations in the Appalachian region, setting a company record, CEO Dennis Degner said during a July 22 conference call. Degner added that the team also set several other records, including pumping continuously for 22 hours in a single day.

These operations position Range to achieve its production target of 2.5 billion cubic feet equivalent per day by the end of 2026 (approximately 2.3 billion cubic feet equivalent per day in the second quarter) and lay the groundwork for that figure to grow to 2.6 billion cubic feet equivalent per day next year. Degner said these activities also put the company "a few wells ahead of the 2026-2027 investment plan."

"The plan is essentially to utilize the 400,000 feet of horizontal laterals accumulated over the past few years and complete them over the remainder of 2026 and 2027. We are still on track," Degner stated. "From a rough estimate, this allows us to slightly reduce our drilling needs this year. Then we will shift some drilling activity to next year, all within the same announced capital budget."

Capital expenditures for the quarter were $222 million, with Degner and his team maintaining the full-year guidance of $650 million to $700 million and indicating that next year's capital spending will be similar in scale. Of the net production for the quarter, approximately 1.55 billion cubic feet per day was natural gas, with total natural gas liquids exceeding 118,000 barrels per day. In the first three months of this year, those figures were 1.51 billion cubic feet per day and 108,000 barrels per day, respectively.

In the second quarter, Range reported net income of $195 million and total revenue of $834 million, both down from $238 million and $856 million, respectively, in the same period last year. Operating income was $249 million, compared to $302 million a year earlier.

Following the earnings release and conference call, Range's stock (ticker: RRC) rose approximately 1% to $38.18. The stock has gained 8% year-to-date, bringing the company's market capitalization to about $9 billion.