Antero Resources

Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Pleasants County | Regulation | Ritchie County | Tyler County | West Virginia

WV DEP Fines Antero Resources $93K for “Pollution” of Streams
March 31, 2016March 31, 2016

The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection has gotten a signed consent order from Antero Resources assessing a fine of $93,000 on the company for “pollution” of waterways in several WV counties related to installing pipelines. So says a single Associated Press article. We can find nothing about this story from another other news source than the AP. Not on the WV DEP website. Not on Antero’s website. We scoured the web. We scoured our own MDN archives. Nada. Just a single AP story currently running in dozens of newspapers and in other media outlets/websites across the country. Here is the entire, very brief AP story with sparse details…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Sells 8M Units in Midstream Subsidiary, Looks to Raise $179M
March 29, 2016March 29, 2016

There’s a handful of Marcellus/Utica drillers who are still making money and still drilling in the northeast. One of the few is Antero Resources. In 2015 Antero made, after expenses, nearly $1 billion in profit (see Antero Resources Stands Above the Rest – Nets $941M in 2015). Impressive. For 2016, even though Antero will scale back on spending, they still plan to drill 110 wells in the northeast (see Antero Resources 2016: Spending 23% Less, Drilling 110 Wells). Really impressive. Although they’ve had enormous success, you can never have too much cash if you’re a driller. Last week Antero announced they are selling 8 million new “common units” (think shares of stock) in Antero’s midstream subsidiary, hoping to raise $179 million of cold, hard cash to keep the drill bits turning. After the announcement, Antero Midstream’s unit prices plunged…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV “Help Out Antero” Bill (re Nuisance Lawsuits) is Dead for 2016
March 9, 2016March 9, 2016

We’ve told you about a bill winding its way through the legislative process in West Virginia that would stop a rash of so-called nuisance lawsuits–primarily against Antero Resources (see WV Senate Bill Stops Frivolous Nuisance Lawsuits Against Drillers). Hundreds of nuisance lawsuits (“they’re too loud, “they leave the lights on too late,” “I don’t like the truck traffic”) have been filed against Antero and other drillers. The lawsuits against Antero have been combined into a class action lawsuit (see More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit). It’s a back door way to bring down a company–like a pack of hyenas attacking a giraffe. If the pack is big enough, it can kill its prey. Senate Bill (SB) 508 was meant to stop this insanity, and as of a few weeks ago it was advancing (see 2 Bills Favorable to Drillers Advance in WV Senate – SB 508 & 565). But that was then, this is now. SB 508 is now pretty much dead. A House committee is holding it up and the bill won’t make it to the floor for a vote before the end of WV’s brief 60-day legislative session…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Rice Energy

Which 2 Northeast Drillers Does Wall Street Love the Best?
March 3, 2016March 3, 2016

Wall Street is looking favorably on Marcellus/Utica drillers. Why? Because they’re cutting back spending–way back. On average the eight largest drillers in the northeast are scaling back spending in 2016 by 51%. Good for the number crunchers–bad for jobs and economic benefits for communities. Collectively their stock price is up about 3% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF is down 19%. However, there are two northeast drillers who are scaling back a little, but not nearly as much as the others. These two drillers believe they can keep drilling, and pumping, profitably in 2016. Which ones are they?…
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Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Antero Resources Well Pad Fire in Doddridge County, WV
February 29, 2016February 29, 2016

There was a small fire at an Antero Resources well pad in Doddridge County, WV last Thursday. Antero immediately shut down the four producing natural gas wells and contacted local first responders who put the fire out. The important news is that (a) nobody was hurt, (b) the environment was not harmed, and (c) the wells are secure and there is no danger. What happened is this: When natural gas comes out of the borehole, more than just methane comes out. Along with methane comes other hydrocarbons and water. There is a separating unit on the pad to strip out the water and some of the other substances from the methane. That unit failed, allowing some methane to escape which then caught fire. The good new is that safety precautions worked and the fire did not spread. Below are the details…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources Stands Above the Rest – Nets $941M in 2015
February 25, 2016February 25, 2016

There’s at least one driller that’s figured out how to continue making money in one of the worst down markets in two generations: Antero Resources. Antero released their “good news” operational update back in January (see Antero Resources 4Q15 Update: NatGas Sales Averaged $4.40/Mcf). Earlier this month the company issued an update for 2016 that they will cut back spending by 23% (far less than others) with plans to drill 110 wells this year in the Marcellus/Utica (see Antero Resources 2016: Spending 23% Less, Drilling 110 Wells). We thought for sure when they finally got around to sharing their financial numbers it would be red as far as the eye can see. Nope! Yesterday Antero, one of the biggest and best drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 financial update. And guess what? They made more money last year than the year before! Three years ago Antero lost $18.9 million. Two years ago, after expenses, Antero made $674 million. Last year, in 2015, Antero made, after expenses, $941 million. That’s nearly $1 billion in profit! Other drillers need to study Antero closely to see what they’re doing right…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources 2016: Spending 23% Less, Drilling 110 Wells
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

In January Antero Resources, one of the biggest and best drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, released their fourth quarter and full year operational (not financial) update for 2015 (see Antero Resources 4Q15 Update: NatGas Sales Averaged $4.40/Mcf). Antero still hasn’t released their 4Q15 and full 2015 financial update, but yesterday the company did release their 2016 capital budget and guidance. Lots of interesting details, like this: Antero will spend $1.4 billion in 2016 on drilling, down 23% from the $1.8 billion they spent in 2015; they plan to complete a staggering 110 wells in 2016 and by the end of the year they will have 70 wells drilled but not completed (DUCs); of the $1.4 billion they’re spending in 2016, $1.3 is for drilling and completions, and $100 million is for new or renewed lease deals. Here’s the full 2016 looking forward update from Antero…
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Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Wastewater | West Virginia

Antero Plans Salt Landfill Next to Proposed Wastewater Recycling Plant
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

In August of last year, MDN told you that one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, Antero Resources, floated the idea of building a $275 million state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant in Doddridge County, WV (see Antero Building New 60K Bbl Wastewater Recycling Facility in WV). The new plant, which will process 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day, will save Antero $150,000 per well in completion costs once it’s up and running. Antero tapped French company Veolia to engineer and build the plant (see French Company Confirms Building $275M Wastewater Plant for Antero). The plant will go online in late 2017. The new news is that last week Antero filed for a permit to build a landfill next to the wastewater plant. The wastewater plant will separate water, salt and radioactive particles. The salt can be sold to municipalities for use as road salt–but frankly there’s not enough of a market to sell it all. And not all of it will be of sufficient quality to be sold that way. So Antero needs a place to dispose of it–hence the $20 million landfill proposal…
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Antero Resources | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Senate Bill Stops Frivolous Nuisance Lawsuits Against Drillers
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

There’s been an interesting twist in pack of so-called “nuisance” lawsuits filed against Antero Resources in West Virginia (see Scores of “Nuisance” Lawsuits Against WV Drillers Combined). As we reported, more than 200 residents in WV (likely those who don’t own the mineral rights under their land) began filing “scores” of “nuisance” lawsuits over the past couple of years against Antero Resources and Hall Drilling, in places like Doddridge County. The lawsuits claim excessive traffic, odors and noise from nearby drilling make it “impossible” for them to enjoy their homes. The individual lawsuits were rolled up into one mega lawsuit that, at the time, sat before the WV Mass Litigation Panel. More recently it seems the mass lawsuit was transferred to Ohio Circuit Court (see More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit). The strategy by anti-drillers is to form a piranha-like school of fish to attack a large mammal and kill it with thousands of tiny bites. But a problem has appeared for the antis. A bill was just introduced in the WV Senate on Feb. 4, Senate Bill (SB 508) that defines what, exactly, a nuisance is for the purposes of such lawsuits. In other words, legislators are about to plug a hole being exploited by antis–and the antis are squealing like stuck pigs…
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Antero Resources | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Companies | Energy Services

Is Crestwood Exploring Sale of Marcellus Assets to Antero?
February 4, 2016February 4, 2016

The following is highly speculative and the equivalent of rumor, but sometimes it’s fun to engage in a bit of rumor-mongering. We spotted a post on the investor website Seeking Alpha that posits the following theory: Crestwood Equity Partners (i.e. Crestwood Midstream), owner of major pipelines and other facilities in the northeast and in other locales, “may” be looking to sell their Marcellus operations to Antero Resources and their Bakken Shale operations to Tesoro Logistic Partners. It must be said up front the person authoring the article owns units (i.e. shares) of Crestwood (CEQP) and is in no way objective. Articles on Seeking Alpha attempt to persuade investors to buy or sell securities. However, the rationale laid out in the article intrigues us and we think it’s worth pondering whether or not Crestwood is about to shed large parts of the company, and what that might mean for our region…
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Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | Litigation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit
February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

Last September MDN told you about the troubling news that more than 200 residents in WV (likely those who don’t own the mineral rights under their land) began filing “scores” of “nuisance” lawsuits over the past couple of years against Antero Resources and Hall Drilling, in places like Doddridge County (see Scores of “Nuisance” Lawsuits Against WV Drillers Combined). The lawsuits claim excessive traffic, odors and noise from nearby drilling make it “impossible” for them to enjoy their homes. The troubling development was that all of these lawsuits (dozens? hundreds?) had been rolled up into one mega lawsuit that sits before the WV Mass Litigation Panel. In other words a class action lawsuit. Since then we’d not heard anything, until we read about two more such lawsuits filed in Kanawha County. The lawyers want to add the two to the existing mass litigation case…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

Antero’s Proved Resources Up 4% to 13.2 Tcfe, 3P Hits 37.1 Tcfe
January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

Antero Resources, with 569,000 under lease, is one of the biggest leaseholders and one of biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. Every year, in order to comply with Securities and Exchange Commission rules, companies like Antero revisit and revise what they call “proved reserves.” That is, how much gas (and NGLs and oil) do they have in the ground? There’s different types of reserves, with proved having the highest confidence. There’s also the “3P” reserve number: proved, probable and possible. 3P has a lower standard to qualify. The news from Antero is that as of Dec. 31, 2015, the company has 13.2 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) of natural gas sitting under their leased acreage. That’s a 4% increase over year-end 2014. Antero’s 3P reserves totaled 37.1 Tcfe at the end of 2015…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources 4Q15 Update: NatGas Sales Averaged $4.40/Mcf
January 14, 2016January 14, 2016

Yesterday Antero Resources, one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, filed their fourth quarter 2015 operational update. As in the past they did not disclose their financials–they wait a few more weeks to disclose those numbers. However, as in the past, the operational update is full of great information. Of chief importance (for us) is how much they sell their natural gas for. Because they have such a great hedging program–locking in future sales at a given price–Antero sold their gas for an average of $4.40 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) during 4Q15–which is an average of $2.13 MORE than gas sold for at the benchmark Henry Hub! Astonishing. Companies can make money selling gas at those prices. Antero reports that although 4Q15 production volumes were 18% higher than 4Q14, the volume was down 1% from the previous quarter, 3Q15. Why? Antero is selectively shutting in production at some locations so they don’t have to sell it at depressed prices at the Dominion South and TETCO M2 trading points. Smart. During 4Q15 Antero drilled and brought online 14 Marcellus wells and 16 Utica wells. Below is the full update they released yesterday, along with a copy of their latest PowerPoint presentation…
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Antero Resources | Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues

How Antero Resources Converted an Ugly Duckling into a SWAN
January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

Antero Resources is perhaps the largest driller completely focused on the Marcellus/Utica (by acreage). They are certainly one of the most important drillers in the northeast. And bucking the trend of almost all of their competitors, they somehow manage to operate in the black (see Antero Resources 3Q15: Bucks the Trend, $237M in the Black!). What’s Antero’s secret to making money in arguably the worst time for our industry in a generation? In a word, it’s hedging. Somehow Antero crafts financial deals a year or more in advance to sell whatever gas they produce for prices much higher than others–at prices that mean the company continues to make a profit. Most energy companies these days are keeping the people who run those companies, AND their investors, up at night. A company like Antero comes as close to any as a SWAN–a “Sleep Well At Night” energy company. An interesting article on the Seeking Alpha website gives us background and clues as to how Antero has been able to convert itself from an ugly duckling into a SWAN…
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Antero Resources | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Noble Energy | Research | Rice Energy

DUC DUC Goose! The Growing Backlog of Uncompleted Shale Wells
December 1, 2015December 1, 2015

Ever hear of a DUC? No, we didn’t forget the “K” on the end of DUC. It stands for Drilled but UnCompleted (DUC) wells. Completing a well means taking the final step of fracking the well and hooking it up to production. Lately there’s been a lot of talk about DUCs–a large inventory of wells drilled (holes in the ground) not yet completed. Completing a well takes a lot of sand, water and money. There’s little incentive to complete wells when commodity prices for oil and gas are so low. In some cases drillers will drill the borehole and not complete a well as a way of holding their acreage before a lease expires. In other cases, they’d love to finish the job–but the price they will get is too darned low, so they put completion on hold. Sometimes a driller has contracted for a rig and crew to operate it–instead of canceling and owing that money anyway, they go ahead and drill. How many DUCs are there in general, and in the Marcellus/Utica specifically? The honest answer is, no one knows for sure. But smart analysts can make some pretty good guesses, based on company reports and their own industry knowledge. Below we bring you the latest we can find on DUCs–specifically how many DUCs there are in the Marcellus/Utica…
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American Energy Partners | Antero Resources | Ascent Resources | Chesapeake Energy | Chevron | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Range Resources Corp | Rice Energy | Seneca Resources | Southwestern Energy

Top 10 Marcellus/Utica Drillers by Number of Permits May-Aug 2015
November 18, 2015November 18, 2015

MDN recently published Volume 2 of our 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook–a research book that chronicles who’s drilling and where in the Marcellus/Utica region. We thought it would be interesting to bring you some of the results from this latest volume. Below is a list of the top 10 Marcellus/Utica drillers based on the number of permits they were issued from May through August 2015. The numbers of permits shown are for discrete, individual wells. Each well drilled typically involves multiple permits–one to begin drilling, another to frack, etc. We toss out all of the multiples and show the numbers for discrete, individual wells. The top driller ranked by number of permits received may just surprise you–it did us. In addition to the list, we’ve included stock charts for each company to show you just how badly the industry has been hit over the past year. Stock prices for most of the top 10 have plunged…
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