RRC vs WLK Comparison

Range Resources is an exploration and production firm whose operations represent a pure play in the Marcellus shale, located in the Appalachian region of Southwest Pennsylvania. The company went public as Lomak Petroleum in 1980 and later reorganized as Range Resources in 1998. After an expensive 10-year venture with a multi-basin strategy, Range Resources found its identity as an Appalachian natural gas producer, offloading its Permian assets in 2013. Range quickly became a leading US gas producer after its merger with Memorial Resource Development in 2016. Following the merger, Range saw its operational unit costs rise to an uncompetitive level and subsequently sold the assets in 2020 to return to its roots as an Appalachian producer.

Westlake is a forward-integrated commodity chemicals firm based in Houston. It began as a single low-density polyethylene plant and expanded its capabilities to include ethylene, vinyl chloride monomers, and polyvinyl chloride over the next two decades. The acquisition of Axiall in 2016 made it a North American leader in chlor-alkali and PVC. Today, Westlake has two defined segments: performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products. The HIP segment began operating in 2022 following a series of acquisitions in the building products space. The firm aims to maximize the value of its chemical production by integrating with the HIP segment, realizing the higher margins of finished commercial goods.