Antero Hits 1.5 Bcf/d in 2Q15, Drilling 1st WV Utica Well in 3Q15
Antero Resources released an operations update for the second quarter of 2015–and what a great update! Antero reports hitting a net daily production of 1,484 million cubic feet equivalent per day (or 1.5 billion cubic feet/day) in 2Q15–a 67% increase over 2Q14. During the last three months Antero drilled and completed 13 Marcellus Shale wells with an average lateral distance of 8,300 feet, and 10 Utica Shale wells with an average lateral of 10,600 feet. The company picked up another 4,400 acres of Marcellus/Utica Shale leases in 2Q15 in “liquids rich” Tyler County, WV, giving them another 67 Utica drilling locations–adding to the 1,900 Utica drilling locations they have on 181,000 acres of leases they own in WV and PA. Antero says they will spud (begin drilling) their very first WV Utica Shale well in Tyler County during the third quarter of this year. Below is the full update, followed by their latest PowerPoint presentation for July with lots of great charts, graphs and maps…
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Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, wants cash and they want it bad. Two days ago we told you that Antero is in the market floating IOUs (or “notes”) looking to raise a huge $1.25 billion (see 
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