National Fuel Gas Company NFG completed the previously announced acquisition of CenterPoint Energy’s CNP Ohio natural gas utility business for $2.62 billion. The transaction adds roughly 335,000 customers, expanding the company’s utility customer base to nearly 1.1 million customers.
Management expects the deal to increase regulated cash flows, complement its existing New York and Pennsylvania utility businesses, and support future capital investment while maintaining the company’s investment-grade balance sheet.
How Will NFG Gain From This Acquisition?
Strategically, the acquisition significantly expands National Fuel’s regulated utility platform, increasing its customer base to about 1.1 million across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The deal is expected to double its gas utility rate base to roughly $3.2 billion, increasing the contribution from stable regulated operations. Ohio’s supportive regulatory framework should also provide opportunities for continued infrastructure investment and timely capital recovery.
Financially, the larger regulated business is expected to strengthen National Fuel’s earnings stability, cash flows and long-term credit profile. The company can use free cash flow from its upstream and gathering operations to fund regulated rate-base growth while preserving the investment-grade rating. The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to regulated EPS, neutral to consolidated adjusted results in fiscal 2028 and accretive thereafter.
Consolidation in Oil and Energy Space
Mergers and acquisitions help oil and gas companies expand reserves, production and geographic reach while improving scale and efficiency. These deals can generate cost synergies, diversify asset portfolios, strengthen market positions and enhance financial flexibility, supporting future investments and resilience against commodity-price volatility.
Given these strategic and financial benefits, merger and acquisition activity continues across the U.S. oil and energy sector. Williams WMB completed its $5.5-billion acquisition of Momentum Midstream in September 2026, expanding the Haynesville natural gas infrastructure with more than 4,000 miles of pipelines.
ONEOK OKE agreed to acquire Brazos Midstream’s Permian Midland Basin assets for $4.43 billion, strengthening its gathering and processing operations and supporting future earnings and cash flow growth.
Price Performance
NFG’s shares have lost 9.6% in the past month compared with the industry’s decline of 8.5%.
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Zacks Rank
NFG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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National Fuel Gas Company (NFG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).