Range Resources Corp., whose fortunes are tied to the Marcellus Shale, faced headwinds during the second quarter on weaker natural gas prices, but longer-term fundamentals are stronger as global demand grows, CEO Dennis Degner said Tuesday.

The Fort Worth, TX-based Appalachian pure-play, a leading U.S. natural gas producer, expects natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) to play a key role in meeting the world’s future energy demand growth, Degner said during the quarterly conference call on Tuesday. 

“Range’s competitive cost structure, low relative capital intensity, liquids optionality and thoughtful hedging allowed us to generate healthy full-cycle margins and maintain our trajectory toward our target capital structure, despite what we expect is a cyclical low in...