Spin-Off and Questar Name Change: QEP

Map of QEP's holdings in the Bakken (North Dakota). All acreage inside the prolific reservation. Posted January 11, 2011.

Original Posting

Questar Exploration and Production is now known as QEP.  See daily activity report, July 14, 2010.

Also, on the "active drilling rigs" page of the NDIC website, Questar Exploration and Production has been changed to QEP.

Questar Corp (STR) has spun off its exploration company. From a press release:

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has raised several ratings on Questar Corp. following the company's spinoff of its exploration and development operations company, QEP Resources Inc.

QEP was formerly known as Questar Markets Resources, Inc., and changed its name in conjunction with the spinoff in June, 2010. 

For investors, this is an interesting transcript: it's only a paragraph long, but it suggests that a) the spin-off will result in increased value over the long term; and, b) the combined value of STR and QEP will be $60 early next year. At the time of the spin-off, STR was trading in a $45 to $55 range. Today, July 15, 2010, the combined value is about $46.

This is the official announcement that the spin-off is complete, dated July 2, 2010.