Antero Resources Announces Second Quarter 2024 Financial and Operating Results

DENVER, July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE: AR) ("Antero Resources," "Antero," or the "Company") today announced its second quarter 2024 financial and operating results. The relevant unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements are included in Antero Resources' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024. 

Second Quarter 2024 Highlights:

• Net production averaged 3.4 Bcfe/d, an increase of 1% from the year ago period
  • Natural gas production averaged 2.1 Bcf/d, a decline of 4% from the year ago period
  • Liquids production averaged 212 MBbl/d, an increase of 10% from the year ago period and which now represents 37% of total production
• Realized a pre-hedge natural gas equivalent price of $2.98 per Mcfe, a $1.09 per Mcfe premium to NYMEX pricing that averaged $1.89 per MMBtu
• Net loss was $66 million, Adjusted Net Loss was $60 million (Non-GAAP)
• Adjusted EBITDAX was $151 million (Non-GAAP); net cash provided by operating activities was $143 million
• Averaged a record 11.9 completion stages per day in the quarter, including a monthly record of 12.8 stages per day during the month of May
• Averaged a record of over 18,000 lateral feet per well for completed wells during the quarter, 16% above the prior quarterly record
• Recorded second highest production rate per well for a pad in company history, averaging 37 MMcfe/d per well over 60 days
• Achieved investment grade rating following upgrade from S&P and entered into new unsecured credit facility
• Published Antero's 7^th Annual ESG Report highlighting Antero's economic contributions to its communities of $1 billion in 2023 and a reduction in methane intensity by 78% and a reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 59% since 2019

2024 Full-Year Guidance Updates:

• Increasing production guidance range to 3.375 to 3.425 Bcfe/d driven by higher liquids volumes
  • Increase is despite deferring the turn in line of a five well drilled but uncompleted pad until the end of this year from the third quarter previously
• Increasing C3+ NGL realized price guidance to a range of $1.00 to $2.00 per barrel premium to Mont Belvieu pricing, which is expected to increase annual Free Cash Flow by approximately $60 million relative to initial NGL pricing guidance

Paul Rady, Chairman, CEO and President of Antero Resources commented, "During the second quarter we continued to deliver strong capital efficiency results. We set a new quarterly completion record of nearly 12 stages per day. These faster completion times have reduced our cycle times to approximately 140 days in 2024, a dramatic reduction of 67% from just five years ago. Looking ahead, we plan to defer turning in line a drilled but uncompleted pad until the end of the year given current natural gas pricing. Despite this activity deferral, we increased our full year 2024 production guidance for the second consecutive quarter as we continue to see strong capital efficiency gains and well performance."

Michael Kennedy, CFO of Antero Resources said, "Our quarterly financial results continue to benefit from our significant exposure to liquids prices. Although natural gas production was down 4% from the year ago period, our liquids production increased 10% year-over-year, and now represents a record high 56% of our total revenue. This increase in liquids production drove 34% Adjusted EBITDAX growth from the prior year period, despite natural gas prices being down 10% over that time. In 2024, we made a strategic decision to increase C3+ NGL exposure to spot international prices where spreads have increased to near record levels. Antero's unconstrained access to international markets allows us to capture premiums to Mont Belvieu and leads us to an additional increase in C3+ NGL pricing guidance for this year."

Mr. Kennedy continued, "Antero's upgrade to an investment grade credit rating reflects our industry low maintenance capital requirements and our commitment to debt reduction over the last several years.  As a result of the capital efficiency gains, we were able to reduce our maintenance capital requirement by over $200 million in 2024. Additionally, we have reduced debt by more than $2 billion since the start of our debt reduction program in late 2019. We believe this peer-leading capital efficiency drives the lowest breakeven costs and positions Antero Resources as the premier operator in Appalachia."

For a discussion of the non-GAAP financial measures including Adjusted Net Income (Loss), Adjusted EBITDAX, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

2024 Guidance Update 

Antero is increasing its full year 2024 production guidance to 3.375 to 3.425 Bcfe/d, an increase at the midpoint of 25 MMcfe/d. The higher than expected volumes are driven by stronger well performance, higher liquids volumes and capital efficiency gains. 

Antero is increasing its full year 2024 C3+ NGL realized price guidance to a range of $1.00 to $2.00 per barrel premium to Mont Belvieu, up from the previous guidance of a premium of $0.00 to $1.00 per barrel. This increase in NGL realized price guidance reflects higher expected realizations from take-in-kind transactions, primarily through more exposure to premium international prices during 2024. Antero has firm transportation capacity to sell its propane and butane at the Marcus Hook Export Terminal in Philadelphia, PA.  Antero entered into transactions during the second quarter at prices greater than a $0.10 per gallon premium to Mont Belvieu and this premium has further increased in the third quarter. This increasing premium reflects tight Gulf Coast export capacity and continued strong international demand out of Marcus Hook.

Free Cash Flow

During the second quarter of 2024, Free Cash Flow deficit was $63 million.

Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results

Net daily natural gas equivalent production in the second quarter averaged 3.4 Bcfe/d, including 212 MBbl/d of liquids. Antero's average realized natural gas price before hedging was $1.92 per Mcf, a $0.03 per Mcf premium to the average First-of-Month NYMEX Henry Hub price.

The following table details average net production and average realized prices for the three months ended June 30, 2024:

Antero's average realized C3+ NGL price was $40.27 per barrel. Antero shipped 53% of its total C3+ NGL net production on Mariner East 2 ("ME2") for export and realized an $0.08 per gallon premium to Mont Belvieu pricing on these volumes at Marcus Hook, PA. Antero sold the remaining 47% of C3+ NGL net production at a $0.06 per gallon discount to Mont Belvieu pricing at Hopedale, OH. The resulting blended price on 116 MBbl/d of net C3+ NGL production was a $0.02 per gallon premium, or $0.63 per barrel compared to Mont Belvieu pricing. 

Three Months Ended June 30, 2024

All-in cash expense, which includes lease operating, gathering, compression, processing and transportation, production and ad valorem taxes was $2.36 per Mcfe in the second quarter, as compared to $2.35 per Mcfe average during the second quarter of 2023. Lower transportation expense was offset by higher gathering, compression and processing costs primarily related to CPI-based adjustments in 2024. Net marketing expense was $0.07 per Mcfe in the second quarter, unchanged from the $0.07 per Mcfe during the second quarter of 2023. The increase in net marketing expense from the first quarter of 2024 was related to higher unutilized expense during the second quarter of 2024 related to maintenance on a third-party long-haul pipeline, which has since been completed. The company continues to forecast annual net marketing expense to be in the range of $0.04 to $0.06 per Mcfe.

Second Quarter 2024 Operating Results

Antero placed 11 horizontal Marcellus wells to sales during the second quarter with an average lateral length of 18,172 feet.

Highlights:

• A six well pad had the second highest 60-day rate in company history, averaging 37 MMcfe/d per well with approximately 2,044 Bbl/d of liquids assuming 25% ethane recovery. These wells have an average lateral length of 16,750 feet.
• A five well pad had a 60-day rate averaging 34 MMcfe/d per well with approximately 2,103 Bbl/d of liquids assuming 25% ethane recovery. These wells have an average lateral length of 19,878 feet.

Second Quarter 2024 Capital Investment

Antero's drilling and completion capital expenditures for the three months ended June 30, 2024, were $164 million. The Company continues to forecast total drilling and completion capital in 2024 to be in the range of $650 to $700 million.  In addition to capital invested in drilling and completion activities, the Company invested $21 million in land during the second quarter. During the quarter, Antero added approximately 3,500 net acres, representing 13 incremental drilling locations at an average cost of approximately $750,000 per location. These incremental locations more than offset the wells Antero turned to sales during the second quarter of 2024. The company continues to forecast total land capital in 2024 to be in the range of $75 million to $100 million.

Investment Grade Rating and New Credit Facility

On May 15, 2024, S&P upgraded Antero's corporate and issuer credit ratings to BBB- from BB+ with a stable outlook. The Company has maintained an investment grade credit rating from Fitch Ratings since September of 2022.  On July 30, 2024, Antero entered into a new unsecured credit facility with lender commitments of $1.65 billion. With the investment grade rating, letters of credit were reduced from $443 million to $120 million. Antero expects interest expense to decrease by $15 million on an annual basis and realized over $350 million of increased liquidity as a result of the upgrade.

2023 ESG Report Highlights

On July 31, 2024, Antero published its 2023 ESG Report, marking the Company's 7th year reporting on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. This year's report highlights the Company's emissions reduction progress, significant local economic impacts, increased water recycling rate, continued commitment to safety across our operations, and our innovative project to directly address energy poverty in Ghana.

• Contributed $1 billion in 2023 to local communities in which Antero operates, including; $816 million in lease and royalty payments, $158 million in property and severance taxes, and $24 million invested in road infrastructure improvements
• Reduced methane leak loss rate by 76% and Scope 1 GHG intensity by 63% since 2019
• Reduced methane intensity by 78% and its combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 59% since 2019, putting the Company on target to achieve its Net Zero 2025 goal
• Recycled 89% of the wastewater in 2023 and reduced wastewater injection volumes by 72% since 2019
• In 2024, Antero finalized a commercial agreement with Envirofit International to provide cleaner-burning LPG stoves in Ghana, Africa. This strategic initiative will improve air quality and overall health for the Ghanaian residents utilizing the stoves, while also providing the opportunity for thousands of Ghanaians to transition to a more modern, reliable and cost-effective energy source. This project will generate significant employment opportunities through local manufacturing and distribution as well as premium certified carbon offsets that are expected to help Antero achieve the Company's 2025 Net Zero Scope 1 GHG emissions goal.

Commodity Derivative Positions

Antero did not enter into any new natural gas or oil hedges during the second quarter of 2024.

Please see Antero's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, for more information on all commodity derivative positions.  For detail on current commodity positions, please see the Hedge Profile presentations at www.anteroresources.com.

Conference Call

A conference call is scheduled on Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 9:00 am MT to discuss the financial and operational results. A brief Q&A session for security analysts will immediately follow the discussion of the results. To participate in the call, dial in at 877-407-9079 (U.S.), or 201-493-6746 (International) and reference "Antero Resources." A telephone replay of the call will be available until Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 9:00 am MT at 877-660-6853 (U.S.) or 201-612-7415 (International) using the conference ID: 13743656. To access the live webcast and view the related earnings conference call presentation, visit Antero's website at www.anteroresources.com.  The webcast will be archived for replay until Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 9:00 am MT.

Presentation

An updated presentation will be posted to the Company's website before the conference call. The presentation can be found at www.anteroresources.com on the homepage. Information on the Company's website does not constitute a portion of, and is not incorporated by reference into this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted Net Income (Loss)  

Adjusted Net Income (Loss) as set forth in this release represents net income (loss), adjusted for certain items. Antero believes that Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is useful to investors in evaluating operational trends of the Company and its performance relative to other oil and gas producing companies. Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income (loss) as an indicator of financial performance. The GAAP measure most directly comparable to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is net income (loss). The following table reconciles net loss to Adjusted Net Loss (in thousands):

Net Debt

Net Debt is calculated as total long-term debt less cash and cash equivalents. Management uses Net Debt to evaluate the Company's financial position, including its ability to service its debt obligations.

The following table reconciles consolidated total long-term debt to Net Debt as used in this release (in thousands):

Free Cash Flow

Free Cash Flow is a measure of financial performance not calculated under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for cash flow from operating, investing, or financing activities, as an indicator of cash flow or as a measure of liquidity. The Company defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less net cash used in investing activities, which includes drilling and completion capital and leasehold capital, plus payments for derivative monetization, less proceeds from asset sales or derivative monetization and less distributions to non-controlling interests in Martica.

The Company has not provided projected net cash provided by operating activities or a reconciliation of Free Cash Flow to projected net cash provided by operating activities, the most comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. The Company is unable to project net cash provided by operating activities for any future period because this metric includes the impact of changes in operating assets and liabilities related to the timing of cash receipts and disbursements that may not relate to the period in which the operating activities occurred. The Company is unable to project these timing differences with any reasonable degree of accuracy without unreasonable efforts.

Free Cash Flow is a useful indicator of the Company's ability to internally fund its activities, service or incur additional debt and estimate our ability to return capital to shareholders. There are significant limitations to using Free Cash Flow as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effect of certain recurring and non-recurring items that materially affect the Company's net income, the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies and the different methods of calculating Free Cash Flow reported by different companies. Free Cash Flow does not represent funds available for discretionary use because those funds may be required for debt service, land acquisitions and lease renewals, other capital expenditures, working capital, income taxes, exploration expenses, and other commitments and obligations.

Adjusted EBITDAX

Adjusted EBITDAX is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net income (loss), adjusted for certain items detailed below. 

Adjusted EBITDAX as used and defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies and is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDAX should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income or loss, net income or loss, cash flows provided by operating, investing, and financing activities, or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDAX provides no information regarding our capital structure, borrowings, interest costs, capital expenditures, working capital movement, or tax position. Adjusted EBITDAX does not represent funds available for discretionary use because those funds may be required for debt service, capital expenditures, working capital, income taxes, exploration expenses, and other commitments and obligations. However, our management team believes Adjusted EBITDAX is useful to an investor in evaluating our financial performance because this measure:

• is widely used by investors in the oil and natural gas industry to measure operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of such term, which may vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and the book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors;
• helps investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the effect of our capital and legal structure from our operating structure;
• is used by our management team for various purposes, including as a measure of our operating performance, in presentations to our Board of Directors, and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting: and
• is used by our Board of Directors as a performance measure in determining executive compensation.

There are significant limitations to using Adjusted EBITDAX as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effects of certain recurring and non-recurring items that materially affect our net income or loss, the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies, and the different methods of calculating Adjusted EBITDAX reported by different companies.

The GAAP measures most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDAX are net income (loss) and net cash provided by operating activities.  The following table represents a reconciliation of Antero's net income (loss), including noncontrolling interest, to Adjusted EBITDAX and a reconciliation of Antero's Adjusted EBITDAX to net cash provided by operating activities per our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows, in each case, for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2024 (in thousands). Adjusted EBITDAX also excludes the noncontrolling interests in Martica, and these adjustments are disclosed in the table below as Martica related adjustments.

Drilling and Completion Capital Expenditures

For a reconciliation between cash paid for drilling and completion capital expenditures and drilling and completion accrued capital expenditures during the period, please see the capital expenditures section below (in thousands):

Notwithstanding their use for comparative purposes, the Company's non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies.

Antero Resources is an independent natural gas and natural gas liquids company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of unconventional properties located in the Appalachian Basin in West Virginia and Ohio. In conjunction with its affiliate, Antero Midstream Corporation (NYSE: AM), Antero is one of the most integrated natural gas producers in the U.S.  The Company's website is located at www.anteroresources.com.

This  release includes "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are not under Antero Resources' control. All statements, except for statements of historical fact, made in this release regarding activities, events or developments Antero Resources expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, such as those regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, anticipated reductions in letters of credit and interest expense, prospects, plans and objectives of management,  return of capital, expected results, future commodity prices, future production targets, including those related to certain levels of production, future earnings, leverage targets and debt repayment, future capital spending plans, improved and/or increasing capital efficiency, estimated realized natural gas, NGL and oil prices, impacts of geopolitical and world health events, expected drilling and development plans, projected well costs and cost savings initiatives, future financial position, the participation level of our drilling partner and the financial and production results to be achieved as a result of that drilling partnership, the other key assumptions underlying our projections, and future marketing opportunities, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although Antero Resources believes that the plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance that these plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements. Except as required by law, Antero Resources expressly disclaims any obligation to and does not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Antero Resources cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties, incident to the exploration for and development, production, gathering and sale of natural gas, NGLs and oil, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Antero Resources' control. These risks include, but are not limited to, commodity price volatility, inflation, supply chain or other disruption, availability and cost of drilling, completion and production equipment and services, environmental risks, drilling and completion and other operating risks, marketing and transportation risks, regulatory changes or changes in law, the uncertainty inherent in estimating natural gas, NGLs and oil reserves and in projecting future rates of production, cash flows and access to capital, the timing of development expenditures, conflicts of interest among our stockholders, impacts of geopolitical and world health events, cybersecurity risks, our ability to achieve Net Zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions and the costs associated therewith, the state of markets for, and availability of, verified quality carbon offsets and the other risks described under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Antero Resources' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.

The following table sets forth selected financial data for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2024:

The following table sets forth selected financial data for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and 2024:

SOURCE Antero Resources Corporation