Table of Contents Index to Financial Statements ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS OVERVIEW Background Management’s Discussion and Analysis is the Company’s analysis of its financial performance and of significant trends that may affect future performance. It should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes, and supplemental oil and gas disclosures included elsewhere in this report. It contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements relating to the Company’s plans, strategies, objectives, expectations and intentions that are made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In many cases you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “estimate,” “continue,” “potential,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “will,” “objective,” “guidance,” “outlook,” “effort,” “expect,” “believe,” “predict,” “budget,” “projection,” “goal,” “forecast,” “target” or similar words. Unless required to do so under the federal securities laws, the Company does not undertake to update, revise or correct any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s disclosures under the heading: “ Cautionary Statement about Forward- Looking Statements .” Southwestern Energy Company (including its subsidiaries, collectively, “we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company” or “Southwestern”) is an independent energy company engaged in natural gas, oil and NGLs exploration, development and production, which we refer to as “E&P.” We are also focused on creating and capturing additional value through our marketing business, which we call “Marketing”. We conduct most of our businesses through subsidiaries, and we currently operate exclusively in the lower 48 United States. E&P. Our primary business is the exploration for and production of natural gas, oil and NGLs, with our ongoing operations focused on the development of unconventional natural gas reservoirs located in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Our operations in northeast Pennsylvania, which we refer to as “Northeast Appalachia,” are primarily focused on the unconventional natural gas reservoir known as the Marcellus Shale. Our operations in West Virginia, Ohio and southwest Pennsylvania, which we refer to as “Southwest Appalachia,” are focused on the Marcellus Shale, the Utica and the Upper Devonian unconventional natural gas and oil reservoirs. Collectively, our properties in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are herein referred to as “Appalachia.” We also have drilling rigs located in Appalachia, and we provide certain oilfield products and services, principally serving our E&P operations though vertical integration. On November 13, 2020, we closed on our Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger agreement”) with Montage Resources Corporation (“Montage”) pursuant to which Montage merged with and into Southwestern, with Southwestern continuing as the surviving company (the “Merger”). The Merger expanded our footprint in Appalachia by supplementing our Northeast Appalachia and Southwest Appalachia operations and by expanding our operations into Ohio. See  Note 3  to the consolidated financial statements of this Annual Report for more information on the Merger. Marketing. Our marketing activities capture opportunities that arise through the marketing and transportation of natural gas, oil, and NGLs primarily produced in our E&P operations.  Focus in 2020.  We entered 2020 with a continued focus on optimizing our cost structure, maximizing margins in each of our core areas of business while further developing our knowledge of our asset base and looking for strategic transactions that take advantage of our core strengths. The recent Merger and the associated expected cost and operational synergies is a reflection of this strategy. While COVID-19 brought challenges of lower demand for certain of our products resulting in lower oil and NGL pricing (discussed below), we exercised our capital and operational agility by quickly shifting our investments to our higher return natural gas assets. We remained committed to our focus on creating sustainable value with the goal of generating cash flow above and beyond our operational needs, while at the same time maintaining our leading position as stewards of the environment. We continued to protect our financial strength through bond repurchases at a discount as well as a robust derivative program designed to ensure certain cash flow levels by reducing our exposure to commodity price volatility. Lower natural gas, oil and NGL prices present challenges to our industry and our Company, as do changes in laws, regulations and investor sentiment and other key factors described under “Risk Factors” in  Item 1A  of this Annual Report. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related governmental and societal measures (discussed below), along with the disagreements between OPEC and Russia on production levels, caused oil prices to decrease significantly in the first and second quarters of 2020. While oil pricing partially recovered late in the second quarter and continued to improve toward the end of the year, gains on our settled derivatives offset a large portion of the impact of the overall decline in prices. Although we currently expect to maintain a robust rolling three-year derivative portfolio, there can be no 48