Southwestern Energy CEO: 'I Am A Bull On Natural Gas'

Shares of Southwestern Energy Company SWN have fallen nearly in line with the fall in natural gas prices, down by around 50 percent since last year. Southwestern Energy CEO Steven Mueller was on CNBC Monday to discuss natural gas prices and the recent acquisition by the company.

Bullish On Natural Gas

"We actually did a large acquisition last year, $5 billion, and our most recent dispositions will help finance that," Mueller said. "What we did was basically double-size our company with that acquisition, and it's almost all natural gas. So, I am a bull on natural gas."

Related Link: Boone Pickens: Natural Gas Will See $6

Details Of The Deal

On why the company did this deal and how it was financed, Mueller said, "The acquisition we bought was in northern West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania, some of the best rock in the world for production – [it] has both oil and natural gas with it, mainly natural gas – and we wanted to be in the best places long-term. This is one of the best places to be.

"To do that, we issued some equity earlier in the year. We did some financing, some debt and then we just disposed about $700 million of our assets."

Investment-Grade Company

Mueller was asked what would have happened if the company wouldn't have divested these assets. He replied, "We are an investment-grade company, and one of things we wanted to do was make sure we retain investment grade. It's very important for us to do that, and part of the overall financing plan we proposed to the community and especially to various groups of followers from that site was that we'll do this divesture.

"What we disposed off were some conventional properties. We are a non-conventional gas driller. That's where all of our activity has been," Mueller concluded.