American Standard Energy Corp Announces 2011 Results and Provides Financial and Operational Update

USA - English

• USA - English

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- American Standard Energy Corp ("American Standard" or the "Company") (OTCBB: ASEN), a domestic oil and gas exploration and production company, today announced results for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011.

Results compare the current period to our historical recast financial information in which certain information for the year ended December 31, 2010 includes the assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses of the properties acquired from Geronimo on February 10 and March 1, 2011.  Results also compare the current period to financial information that excludes the impact of the acquisitions that occurred in the current period but were recast to prior period.

Full Year Financial Review

For the year ended December 31, 2011, American Standard had revenues of $12.4 million, an increase of $5.5 million or 80%, from $6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.  Excluding the impact from acquisition accounting, revenues increased from $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2010 to $12.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2011, an increase of $11.1 million or 816%.  The average realized crude oil and gas sales prices for 2011 were $89.93 BO and $5.93 MCF, respectively.  

Revenues were driven by acquisitions of producing properties, higher oil production and improved realized pricing. Production for the year ended December 31, 2011 was 194,468 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), an increase of 47,799 BOE, or 33%, from 146,669 BOE for the year ended December 31, 2010.  Excluding the impact of acquisition accounting, production increased 173,235 BOE, or 816% in 2011. The oil to gas mix for the year ended December 31, 2011 was 52% oil to 48% gas compared to the year ended December 31, 2010 with a mix of 39% oil and 61% gas.  

Scott Feldhacker, Chief Executive Officer of American Standard Energy Corp, stated, "2011 was a transformational year for American Standard Energy Corp, through the successful execution of our core strategy to acquire prime leasehold acreage and production in key conventional and unconventional basins.  This strategy is already increasing average daily production, proved reserves and produced a multi-year drilling inventory. We expect to see additional increases in production in 2012 with the completion of infrastructure in the Eagle Ford, further completions in the Permian Basin and development of our acreage in the Williston Basin."

Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $6.5 million, an increase of $3.5 million when compared to $3 million in adjusted EBITDA for the period ending December 31, 2010. Excluding the impact of acquisition accounting, adjusted EBITDA increased $7.3 million when compared to negative adjusted EBITDA of $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2010.  Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure.

American Standard posted a net loss from operations for the year ended December 31, 2011 of $11.4 million, or $0.32 per share compared to a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2010 of $2.8 million, or $0.12 per share.  Excluding the impact of acquisition accounting, the Company posted a net loss from operations for the year ended of $5.5 million, or $0.24 per share primarily related to the recognition of $4.2 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expense and fees related to accounting, legal and consulting services in relation to the formation of the Company.

Proved reserves for the period ended December 31, 2011, per the engineering reserve analysis prepared by DeGolyer and MacNaughton and Cawley, Gillespie & Associates, Inc., the Company's independent reservoir engineering firms, have an estimated PV10% value of approximately $70.7 million compared to a PV10% value of the Company's reserves as of December 31, 2010 of $18.5 million. PV10% is the estimated future cash flows from proved reserves, discounted at an annual rate of 10 percent before giving effect to income taxes.  Total proved reserves at December 31, 2011 were 3.4 million BOE, an increase of 2.2 million BOE, or 183%, from proved reserves of 1.2 million BOE as of December 31, 2010, excluding the accounting impact from acquisitions.

American Standard's capital expenditures for the year ended December 31, 2011 totaled approximately $80.0 million, compared with capital expenditures of approximately $8.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2010. Approximately $62.3 million, or 78% of capital expenditures in 2011, were dedicated to development, drilling and completion activities, while approximately $17.7 million or 22% of capital expenditures was related to leasehold acquisitions.

Scott Mahoney, the Chief Financial Officer of American Standard, commented, "We believe that the Company delivered meaningful growth on multiple fronts in 2011.  We completed five acquisitions in 2011, which included both production and key acreage positions.  As a result, we were able to invest almost 80% of our capital budget in 2011 for drilling, while increasing our total acreage positions by over 180% during the year.  This was a key component to our strategy, which enabled us to increase average daily production from 58 barrels of oil equivalent per day ('BOEPD') in 2010 to 533 BOEPD in 2011."

Operational Update

American Standard continued its leasehold acquisition and development strategy in 2011, increasing its overall leasehold acreage from 11,000 acres to 40,100 acres representing an increase of nearly 184%. During 2011, the Company acquired an additional 21,000 net leasehold acres in the Williston Basin and Permian Basin. On March 5, 2012, the Company acquired an additional 72,300 net leasehold acres primarily in the Permian Basin, Williston Basin, Eagle Ford, Niobrara and Eagle Bine.

Exiting the year with daily production in excess of 1,500 barrels of oil (equivalent) per day, the Company drilled 16 gross (16.0 net) wells in the Permian Basin, completing 8 wells by December 31, 2011. In the Williston Basin, the Company participated in 1.8 net wells, all targeting the Bakken and Three Forks formations. In the Eagle Ford, the Company participated in 1.8 net horizontal wells in La Salle and Frio Counties, targeting the Eagle Ford shale and Pearsall formations with infrastructure completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.  

"We believe that American Standard's activities in 2011 positioned the Company for continued solid growth in 2012," added Scott Feldhacker. "I am pleased with our accomplishments to date, along with our recent acquisition.  We believe that the Company is now well positioned to focus on accelerated development, building proved reserves and driving our production growth in 2012."  

About American Standard Energy

American Standard Energy Corp is an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The Company's oil and gas asset base is comprised of operated acreage in the Permian Basin and non-operated acreage in the Williston Basin and South Texas Eagle Ford resource prospects. The Company currently controls approximately 112,000 combined net acres in the Permian Basin, Williston Basin, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Eagle Bine and Gulf Coast.

For additional information on American Standard Energy Corp visit our website at: www.asenergycorp.com

Forward Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and our future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act").  All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this report regarding our financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations, industry conditions, and indebtedness covenant compliance are forward-looking statements.  When used in this report, forward-looking statements are generally accompanied by terms or phrases such as "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "plan," "intend," "seek," "goal," "will," "should," "may" "continue,"  "opportunities" or other words and similar expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes.  Items contemplating or making assumptions about, actual or potential future sales, market size, collaborations, and trends or operating results also constitute such forward-looking statements. Please refer to the documents American Standard files, from time to time, with the Securities and Exchange Commission; specifically, American Standard's most recent Form 10-K and the cautionary statements and risk factors contained therein. Those documents contain and identify important risk factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and important factors (many of which are beyond our Company's control) that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including the following: oil and gas prices, our ability to raise capital, general economic or industry conditions nationally and/or in the communities in which our Company conducts business, changes in the interest rate environment, legislation or regulatory requirements, conditions of the securities markets, changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines, financial or political instability, acts of war or terrorism, other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technical factors affecting our Company's operations, products, services and prices.  

We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control.  

CONTACT:

Investor Relations

Jon Kruljac

GVC Advisors

(303) 694-0862

SOURCE American Standard Energy Corp