Part of the rush of first quarter 2018 updates released this week included an update from one of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers–Antero Resources. Antero drills in WV, OH and PA–but their main focus is on drilling in WV (see Antero Resources Spent $1B in WV Last Year, Another $1B This Year). In a trend we’ve seen with other early-reporting drillers, Antero’s net income was down. However, the company still made money–$14.8 million of net income in 1Q18, down from $268 million of net income in 1Q17. Antero arguably has the best hedging program in the business–the ability to pre-sell their gas (and liquids), fetching prices higher than most others get. Most of Antero’s sales are hedged. The company reports that in 1Q18, if you were to combine natural gas and NGLs and oil, converting it all to natural gas equivalents, Antero sold their production for an average of $4.04 per thousand cubic feet equivalent (Mcfe). Impressive in a market where sometimes the price dips below $1/Mcfe. Speaking of impressive, Antero CEO Paul Rady opened his comments on an analyst phone call by saying, “First and foremost we had an exceptional quarter on the operational front. Despite difficult operating conditions, processing outages and severe weather, Antero delivered record production volumes.” The company hit a record-high of 2.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day of production…
