Antero Resources: 2014 a Banner Year, but Cutting 2015 Budget 36%
Yes, it’s earning season and for the next several weeks there will be a parade of companies releasing their 2014 results and looking forward to 2015. Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, is among them. Yesterday Antero released their 2014 numbers and commented on 2015. Among Anteor’s good news: Proved reserves jumped an eye-popping 66% in just one year–to 12.7 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe). The company’s 3P reserves (proved, probably and possible) jumped to a staggering 40.7 Tcfe. If you look at potential drilling locations for Antero’s 3P leased acreage, they could theoretically drill in 5,331 different locations (70% of those locations being in liquids-rich areas). Daily average production was up a huge 87% year over year. Net revenue doubled for the year. On the down side, Antero is cutting their 2015 budget by 36%, but that’s not a surprise. Below is yesterday’s update…
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David Fessler is energy and infrastructure strategist (i.e. stock analyst/researcher) with The Oxford Club–a publisher based in Baltimore, Maryland that publishes the Oxford Resource Explorer, among other financial publications. Fessler spends his days immersed in the energy industry and in the stocks of companies in that industry. Fessler and The Oxford Club have produced a special report called “The Oil Company Death List” which is a list of 19 publicly-traded oil and gas companies that, according to a formula worked out by Fessler, will “die soon.” That is, they’ll go bankrupt if they don’t sell themselves or otherwise sell off major assets. Why? They’re “swimming in debt” and way over leveraged with “ugly balance sheets.” Fessler’s simple formula is all about a company’s debt ratio. When a company’s debts reach 4 times or higher its earnings (EBITDA), that’s a huge red flag. Below we have the list of 19 on the “death list” along with a copy of Fessler’s full report (describing his methodology). The interesting/troubling aspect is that 8 of the 19 are Marcellus/Utica operators–one of which is #1 for highest debt-to-earnings ratios. Some companies in the list surprised us–others did not. Is your favorite Marcellus/Utica driller in the list?…
Earlier this month, Antero Resources, one of the largest leaseholders and drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, announced they are laying off 250 landmen in WV, OH and PA because of low oil and gas prices (see 
Antero Resources said on Monday it will lay off more than 250 contract land brokers operating in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The layoffs will not affect any Antero employees–only contract workers (landmen and others) who work to get leases signed, sealed and delivered for future drilling. Antero blames the low price of oil, which causes the price they get for their Marcellus/Utica natural gas liquids to be low, which means they’ll stick to drilling on the half million plus acres they already have under lease…
Looks like drilling and fracking adjacent to, and underneath, the Ohio River isn’t the only state-owned asset West Virginia has in mind to raise revenue (see