Antero to Drill 50-55 New Wells, Spend $100M on New Leases in 2025
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its fourth quarter 2024 update last week. The company reports net production in 4Q24 averaged 3.43 Bcfe/d, up ever-so-slightly from 3.42 Bcfe/d in 4Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.1 Bcf/d, a 7% decrease from the same period in 2023. Liquids (NGL) production averaged 217 MBbl/d, a 14% increase from the year-ago period. A little less gas, a little more liquids. Antero achieved a net income of $150 million and adjusted net income of $181 million. Additionally, the company realized a 27% reduction in drilling and completion capital expenditures compared to the prior year. Read More “Antero to Drill 50-55 New Wells, Spend $100M on New Leases in 2025”
Hold on, everyone. The NYMEX natural gas price roller coaster is climbing up the next hill, and there is no telling how high it will go—or how quickly it will go down again. Yesterday, the NYMEX “front month” (March contract) for natural gas futures based on the price at the Henry Hub soared 28.2 cents to close at $4.0070 (call it $4.01). It was the sixth day in a row that the price has gone higher. The current cold snap (weather) in the central and eastern sections of the country is credited with the rise in the price. NGI reports its nationwide average for the spot price of natgas soared $1.010 to $6.880, its highest level since Winter Storm Enzo in mid-January. 
According to a recent report from PJM Interconnection, the manager of the electric grid in all or parts of 13 states plus D.C., three electric transmission zones that are wholly or partly in Pennsylvania are expected to see sharp increases in power demand from current and new data centers in the next few years. For all three zones, PJM says the increase in demand will mostly come from existing and planned new data centers. The solution? Build more Marcellus-fired power plants to meet the demand. 
This is one of those “man bites dog” stories. It wouldn’t be news if a Virginia House of Delegates member who is Republican proposed allocating $15 million of taxpayer money to provide “road extension, grading, and natural gas pipeline extension” for a natural gas power plant and potential data center in Pulaski County, in rural Southwest Virginia. But it definitely IS news when a Democrat proposes it! 
During President Trump’s first term, he tried to change (tweak) the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to strip away some of the governmental red tape that has built up over the years, like plaque in an artery, preventing important infrastructure projects like pipelines, dams, bridges, and roads from getting built (see 
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