SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Issuer Delisting; Order Granting Application of Equitable Resources, Inc. to Withdraw its Common Stock, no par value, from Listing and Registration on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. File No. 1-03551

June 2, 2005

On April 4, 2005, Equitable Resources, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation ("Issuer"), filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission"), pursuant to Section 12(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act"),¹ and Rule 12d2-2(d) thereunder,² to withdraw its common stock, no par value ("Security"), from listing and registration on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Inc. ("Phlx" or "Exchange"). Notice of such application requesting comments was published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2005.³ No comments were received. As discussed below, the Commission is granting the application.

The Board of Directors ("Board") of the Issuer adopted resolutions on December 1, 2004 to withdraw the Security from listing on the Exchange. The Board stated that it is in the best interest of the Issuer to withdraw the Security from listing on Phlx for the following reasons: (i) the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. ("NYSE") has effected 91% of the Issuer's total average trading volume since January 1, 2003 and is the Issuer's primary exchange; (ii) Phlx, which is primarily an options trading exchange, effects an insignificant number and amount of trades in the Security each day; (iii) Phlx does not list Issuer options and the Issuer is not included in Phlx's utility index; (iv) since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, each exchange has adopted new, more stringent corporate governance rules, and NYSE recently adopted amendments to its 2003 corporate governance rules; (v) while Phlx patterned its corporate governance rules after NYSE, certain differences existed and with the NYSE amendment, additional differences now exist; (vi) the Issuer is committed to strong governance practices, but compliance with multiple standards has become time consuming and costly; and (vii) after due consideration, the Issuer has not identified any economic, investor relations, or legal benefit to being listed on Phlx.

The Issuer stated in its application that it has met the requirements of Phlx Rule 809 governing an issuer's voluntary withdrawal of a security from listing and registration by submitting the necessary documents to withdraw the Security from listing on Phlx. The Issuer's application relates solely to the withdrawal of the Security from listing on Phlx and shall not affect its continued listing on the NYSE or its obligation to be registered under Section 12(b) of the Act. ⁴

The Commission, having considered the facts stated in the application and having due regard for the public interest and protection of investors, orders that the application be, and it hereby is, granted, effective at the opening of business on June 3, 2005.

For the Commission, by the Division of Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated authority. ⁵

Endnotes

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¹ 15 U.S.C. 78l(d).

² 17 CFR 240.12d2-2(d).

³ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 51654 (May 4, 2005), 70 FR 24668.

⁴ 15 U.S.C. 781(b).

⁵ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(1).

http://www.sec.gov/rules/delist/1-103551.htm