Antero Resources turned in their third quarter 2017 update earlier this week. On the ubiquitous analyst phone call, Antero CEO Paul Rady spoke at length about the company’s long laterals. Antero has been a leader in drilling long laterals with nearly 900 wells drilled at an average lateral length of 8,250 feet–with some 230 of those drilled with a lateral length longer than 10,000 feet. Of all the shale wells drilled in the Marcellus/Utica that are over 10,000 feet, Antero has drilled more than 30% of those wells. According to Rady: “Longer laterals at 9,000 plus feet generate materially higher well economics.” But long laterals aren’t the whole story. Antero is also bumping up the amount of sand they use in fracking. In 2016 they used 1,500 pounds per square foot. From there they moved to 1,875. Today? They use 2,500 pounds per foot. The company continues to be one of the best in the business with hedging, or pre-selling their gas on long-term contracts for prices higher than they would get on the day-to-day spot market. After hedging, Antero got $3.39 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for gas and equivalents (oil, NGLS) last quarter. Antero drilled and brought online 31 Marcellus wells and 6 Utica wells in 3Q17. Below is the full update, extracts from the analyst phone call, and the the latest slide deck…
Antero Resources turned in their third quarter 2017 update earlier this week. On the ubiquitous analyst phone call, Antero CEO Paul Rady spoke at length about the company’s long laterals. Antero has been a leader in drilling long laterals with nearly 900 wells drilled at an average lateral length of 8,250 feet–with some 230 of those drilled with a lateral length longer than 10,000 feet. Of all the shale wells drilled in the Marcellus/Utica that are over 10,000 feet, Antero has drilled more than 30% of those wells. According to Rady: “Longer laterals at 9,000 plus feet generate materially higher well economics.” But long laterals aren’t the whole story. Antero is also bumping up the amount of sand they use in fracking. In 2016 they used 1,500 pounds per square foot. From there they moved to 1,875. Today? They use 2,500 pounds per foot. The company continues to be one of the best in the business with hedging, or pre-selling their gas on long-term contracts for prices higher than they would get on the day-to-day spot market. After hedging, Antero got $3.39 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for gas and equivalents (oil, NGLS) last quarter. Antero drilled and brought online 31 Marcellus wells and 6 Utica wells in 3Q17. Below is the full update, extracts from the analyst phone call, and the the latest slide deck…