Antero Resources Reports First Quarter 2021 Financial and Operational Results

DENVER, April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE: AR) ("Antero Resources", "Antero", or the "Company") today announced its first quarter 2021 financial and operational results.  The relevant consolidated financial statements are included in Antero Resource's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. 

First Quarter 2021 Highlights Include:

• Net production averaged 3,322 MMcfe/d, including 170,000 Bbl/d of liquids
• Realized natural gas equivalent price averaged $4.03 per Mcfe, a $1.34 per Mcfe premium to NYMEX pricing
• Realized C3+ NGL prices averaged $40.72 per barrel, or 70% of WTI, a 91% increase from the year ago period
• Net loss was $15 million; Adjusted Net Income was $183 million (Non-GAAP)
• Adjusted EBITDAX was $519 million (Non-GAAP); net cash provided by operating activities was $564 million
• Drilling and completion capital expenditures were $141 million, a 54% decrease compared to the prior year period
• Free Cash Flow was $416 million (Non-GAAP)
• Net Debt at quarter end was $2.57 billion, a $433 million reduction from year end 2020 (Non-GAAP)
• Net Debt to last twelve months Adjusted EBITDAX declined to 2.0x
• Borrowing base under the credit facility remains unchanged at $2.85 billion
• Established a new U.S. record for lateral feet drilled in 24 hours at 12,118 feet
• Completion stages per day increased 19% from the 2020 average of 8.0 stages per day to 9.5 stages per day

Paul Rady, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Antero Resources commented, "Antero's first quarter financial results highlight our significant exposure to rising commodity prices.  As the second largest NGL producer and the largest NGL exporter in the U.S., our results benefited from strong international demand for LPG that resulted in C3+ NGL prices that were nearly double the prices realized last year.  This quarter's exceptional financial performance also benefited from our natural gas firm transportation portfolio that enabled us to sell natural gas at a $0.41 per Mcf premium to NYMEX."

Mr. Rady continued, "Antero's differentiated business model focuses on liquids rich development and a firm transportation portfolio that provides flow assurance and enables best in class price realizations.  In combination, these structural advantages generated Free Cash Flow of more than $400 million during the first quarter.  Based on today's strip prices, we forecast over $600 million in Free Cash Flow in 2021, which we will use for additional debt reduction."

Glen Warren, President, and Chief Financial Officer of Antero Resources said, "Since the start of our debt reduction program in the fourth quarter of 2019 we have reduced debt by $1.2 billion, including $433 million during the first quarter of 2021 alone.  This rapid debt repayment has allowed us to reduce our leverage to 2.0x this quarter and positions us to be well below 2-times in the coming quarters.  Additionally, we expect to achieve our goal of absolute debt under $2 billion in 2022, based on today's strip prices.  Once these balance sheet objectives are accomplished, we will be opportunistic in further debt pay down and begin to return capital to our shareholders."

For a discussion of the non-GAAP financial measures including Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDAX, Free Cash Flow and Net Debt please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

First Quarter 2021 Free Cash Flow

Antero generated $416 million in Free Cash Flow after adjusting for working capital changes.  Free Cash Flow before Changes in Working Capital was $320 million during the first quarter. 

Firm Transportation Mitigation

During the first quarter of 2021, Antero was able to utilize its firm transportation portfolio to deliver natural gas volumes that realized a $0.41 per Mcf premium to NYMEX Henry Hub gas prices.  In addition, the firm transport delivered a net marketing gain during the quarter of $3 million, or $0.01 per Mcfe.

NGL Hedges

In order to lock in 2021 Free Cash Flow, Antero added C3+ NGL hedges focused on the summer months of this year.  The summer months historically experience lower seasonal demand and weaker pricing.  Hedges were executed on propane, normal butane, isobutane and pentane volumes.  Antero has hedged approximately 45% of expected C3+ NGL volumes during the second and third quarters of 2021 at an average price of $36 per barrel as of March 31, 2021.  This compares to a C3+ average realized price of approximately $18.75 per barrel during the second and third quarters of 2020.  Antero is unhedged on the majority of its fourth quarter 2021 and all 2022 C3+ NGL production as fundamentals remain strong for improved pricing during these periods. Please see the hedging table on page 5 for more details on Antero's hedge position.

First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

For the three months ended March 31, 2021, Antero reported a GAAP net loss of $15 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to a GAAP net loss of $339 million, or $1.19 per diluted share, in the prior year period.  Adjusted Net Income (non-GAAP measure) for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $183 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, compared to Adjusted Net Loss of $38 million during the three months ended March 31, 2020, or $0.13 per diluted share. 

Adjusted EBITDAX (non-GAAP measure) for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $519 million, an increase of 113% versus the prior year period driven by higher realized natural gas and NGL prices and the Washington Gas Light Company (WGL) payment for natural gas sales. 

The following table details the components of average net production and average realized prices for the three months ended March 31, 2021:

Net daily natural gas equivalent production in the first quarter averaged 3.3 Bcfe/d, including 170 MBbl/d of liquids, as detailed in the above table.  Net gas equivalent production decreased 1% from the prior year period.

Antero's average realized natural gas price before hedging was $3.48 per Mcf, representing a 76% increase compared to the prior year period. The first quarter 2021 gas realization includes a $0.38 per Mcf gain from the payment received from WGL in February 2021 due to a favorable judgement on previously disclosed natural gas pricing contractual disputes.  Excluding this payment, Antero realized a $0.41 per Mcf premium to the average NYMEX Henry Hub price by capitalizing on its premium firm transportation. 

Antero's average realized C3+ NGL price before hedging was $40.72 per barrel, a 91% increase versus the prior year period.  Antero shipped 49% of its total C3+ NGL net production on Mariner East 2 for export and realized a $0.02 per gallon premium to Mont Belvieu pricing on these volumes at Marcus Hook, PA.  Antero sold the remaining 51% of C3+ NGL net production at a $0.06 per gallon discount to Mont Belvieu pricing at Hopedale, OH.  The resulting blended price on 110,289 Bbl/d of net C3+ NGL production was $40.72 per barrel, which was a $0.02 per gallon discount to Mont Belvieu pricing.  Antero expects to sell at least 50% of its C3+ NGL production in 2021 at Marcus Hook for export at a premium to Mont Belvieu.  Antero exports a larger proportion of its C3+ NGL during the summer when lower seasonal demand reduces domestic pricing.  The average realized price for C3+ NGLs is forecasted to be in the range of $0.00 to a $0.05 per gallon premium relative to Mont Belvieu pricing in 2021.

All-in cash expense, which includes lease operating, gathering, compression, processing and transportation, production and ad valorem taxes was $2.26 per Mcfe in the first quarter, an 8% increase compared to $2.09 per Mcfe average during the first quarter of 2020.  The increase from a year ago was due primarily to an increase in gathering, processing and transportation expense driven by higher fuel costs as a result of higher natural gas prices and $12 million in incentive fee rebates earned during the three months ended March 31, 2020 that were not earned in the first quarter of 2021.  Transportation expense increased $0.06 per Mcfe due to increased utilization on higher tariff pipelines into the Midwest, which in turn led to higher natural gas realizations.  Lease operating expense was $0.08 per Mcfe in the first quarter, unchanged from the year ago period.  Production and ad valorem expense was higher due to a $0.05 per Mcfe increase related to higher commodity prices and $0.02 per Mcfe related to WGL settlement expenses.

G&A expense was $0.13 per Mcfe, a $0.04 per Mcfe increase from the first quarter of 2020 primarily due to higher compensation expense that had been significantly reduced during 2020.  G&A expense is expected to be in the range of $0.08 to $0.10 per Mcfe for the remainder of 2021.

Antero realized a per unit net marketing gain of $0.01 per Mcfe in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $0.15 per Mcfe reported in the prior year period.  The improvement was due to higher third party marketing volumes and the mitigation of excess firm transportation expense. 

First Quarter 2021 Operating Update

Marcellus Shale — Antero placed 14 horizontal Marcellus wells to sales during the first quarter with an average lateral length of 14,297 feet. Eight of the 14 new wells have been on line for at least 30 days and the average 30-day rate per well was 29.5 MMcfe/d, including approximately 1,605 Bbl/d of liquids assuming 25% ethane recovery.  The average lateral length for the eight new wells is 14,568 feet.  Production rates from these eight wells are expected to continue to increase as volumes approach peak levels during the 30 to 60 day period.

Antero drilled an average of 7,507 feet per day in the lateral in the first quarter, a 17% increase over the full year average in 2020. Further, we established a new U.S. record for lateral feet drilled in a 24-hour period at 12,118 feet.

Antero's ongoing emphasis on completion efficiencies resulted in a record 9.5 stages completed per day during the first quarter, a 19% increase from the 8.0 stages per day average in 2020.  Completion stages per day benefited from Antero's first simulfrac completion process on a 6-well pad, which allows two separate wells to be completed at the same time. 

Antero is currently operating three drilling rigs and two completion crews.

First Quarter 2021 Capital Investment

Antero's accrued drilling and completion capital expenditures for the three months ended March 31, 2021, were $141 million.  In addition to capital invested in drilling and completion costs, the Company invested $15 million in land during the first quarter.  For a reconciliation of accrued capital expenditures to cash capital expenditures see the table in the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of March 31, 2021, Antero's total debt was $2.57 billion, of which $143 million were borrowings outstanding under the Company's revolving credit facility.  Antero has a borrowing base of $2.85 billion with lender commitments that total $2.64 billion.  After deducting letters of credit outstanding of $742 million, the Company had approximately $1.8 billion in available liquidity at March 31, 2021.  Net debt to trailing twelve month Adjusted EBITDA ratio (non-GAAP) was 2.0x as of March 31, 2021.  

Commodity Derivative Positions

As of March 31, 2021, the Company has hedged 1.1 Tcf of natural gas at a weighted average index price of $2.66 per MMBtu through 2023 with fixed price swap positions.  Antero also has oil and NGL fixed price swap positions, as detailed in the below table. 

Please see Antero's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2021, for more information on all commodity derivative positions.  For detail on current commodity positions, please see the Hedge Profile presentations at www.anteroresources.com.

The following tables summarize Antero's natural gas and NGL hedge position as of March 31, 2021:

Fixed price natural gas positions from April 1, 2021 through December 31, 2023 were as follows:

NGL and oil derivative contract positions from April 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 were as follows:

Conference Call

A conference call is scheduled on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 9:00 am MT to discuss the financial and operational results.  A brief Q&A session for security analysts will immediately follow the discussion of the results for the quarter.  To participate in the call, dial in at 877-407-9079 (U.S.), or 201-493-6746 (International) and reference "Antero Resources".  A telephone replay of the call will be available until Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 9:00 am MT at 877-660-6853 (U.S.) or 201-612-7415 (International) using the conference ID: 13718718.

A simultaneous webcast of the call may be accessed over the internet at www.anteroresources.com.  The webcast will be archived for replay on the Company's website until Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 9:00 am MT.

Presentation

An updated presentation will be posted to the Company's website before the conference call. The presentation can be found at www.anteroresources.com on the homepage. Information on the Company's website does not constitute a portion of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this press release.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Adjusted Net Income (Loss)

Adjusted Net Income (Loss) as set forth in this release represents net income (loss), adjusted for certain items.  Antero believes that Adjusted Net Income (Loss) and Adjusted Net Income (Loss) per share is useful to investors in evaluating operational trends of the Company and its performance relative to other oil and gas producing companies.  Adjusted Net Income (Loss) is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income (loss) as an indicator of financial performance.  The following tables reconcile net income (loss) to Adjusted Net Income (Loss) (in thousands):

Net Debt

Net Debt is calculated as total debt less cash and cash equivalents.  Management uses Net Debt to evaluate the Company's financial position, including its ability to service its debt obligations.

The following table reconciles consolidated total debt to Net Debt as used in this release (in thousands):

Free Cash Flow

Free Cash Flow is a measure of financial performance not calculated under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for cash flow from operating, investing, or financing activities, as an indicator of cash flow, or as a measure of liquidity.  The Company defines Free Cash Flow as net cash provided by operating activities, less drilling and completion capital and leasehold capital, less distributions to non-controlling interests in Martica.

The Company has not provided projected net cash provided by operating activities or a reconciliation of Free Cash Flow to projected net cash provided by operating activities, the most comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP.  The Company is unable to project net cash provided by operating activities for any future period because this metric includes the impact of changes in operating assets and liabilities related to the timing of cash receipts and disbursements that may not relate to the period in which the operating activities occurred.  The Company is unable to project these timing differences with any reasonable degree of accuracy without unreasonable efforts.

Free Cash Flow is a useful indicator of the Company's ability to internally fund its activities and to service or incur additional debt. There are significant limitations to using Free Cash Flow as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effect of certain recurring and non-recurring items that materially affect the Company's net income, the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies and the different methods of calculating Free Cash Flow reported by different companies. Free Cash Flow does not represent funds available for discretionary use because those funds may be required for debt service, land acquisitions and lease renewals, other capital expenditures, working capital, income taxes, exploration expenses, and other commitments and obligations.

Adjusted EBITDAX

Adjusted EBITDAX is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net income (loss), adjusted for certain items detailed below. 

Adjusted EBITDAX as used and defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies and is not a measure of performance calculated in accordance with GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDAX should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for operating income or loss, net income or loss, cash flows provided by operating, investing, and financing activities, or other income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Adjusted EBITDAX provides no information regarding our capital structure, borrowings, interest costs, capital expenditures, working capital movement, or tax position.  Adjusted EBITDAX does not represent funds available for discretionary use because those funds may be required for debt service, capital expenditures, working capital, income taxes, exploration expenses, and other commitments and obligations.  However, our management team believes Adjusted EBITDAX is useful to an investor in evaluating our financial performance because this measure:

• is widely used by investors in the oil and natural gas industry to measure operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of such term, which may vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods and the book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors;
• helps investors to more meaningfully evaluate and compare the results of our operations from period to period by removing the effect of our capital and legal structure from our operating structure;
• is used by our management team for various purposes, including as a measure of our operating performance, in presentations to our Board of Directors, and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting: and
• is used by our Board of Directors as a performance measure in determining executive compensation.

There are significant limitations to using Adjusted EBITDAX as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effects of certain recurring and non-recurring items that materially affect our net income or loss, the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies, and the different methods of calculating Adjusted EBITDAX reported by different companies.

The following table represents a reconciliation of Antero's net income (loss), including noncontrolling interest, to Adjusted EBITDAX and a reconciliation of Antero's Adjusted EBITDAX to net cash provided by operating activities per our consolidated statements of cash flows, in each case, for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021.  Adjusted EBITDAX also excludes the noncontrolling interests in Martica and these adjustments are disclosed in the table below as Martica related adjustments.

Drilling and Completion Capital Expenditures

For a reconciliation between cash paid for drilling and completion capital expenditures and drilling and completion accrued capital expenditures during the period, please see the capital expenditures section below (in thousands):

Notwithstanding their use for comparative purposes, the Company's non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures employed by other companies.

Antero Resources is an independent natural gas and natural gas liquids company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of unconventional properties located in the Appalachian Basin in West Virginia and Ohio. In conjunction with its affiliate, Antero Midstream (NYSE: AM), Antero is one of the most integrated natural gas producers in the U.S.  The Company's website is located at www.anteroresources.com.

This release includes "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are not under Antero Resources' control. All statements, except for statements of historical fact, made in this release regarding activities, events or developments Antero Resources expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, such as those regarding expected results, future commodity prices, future production targets, realizing potential future fee rebates or reductions, including those related to certain levels of production, future earnings, leverage targets and debt repayment, future capital spending plans, improved and/or increasing capital efficiency, estimated realized natural gas, NGL and oil prices, expected drilling and development plans, projected well costs and cost savings initiatives, future financial position, the participation level of our drilling partner and the financial and production results to be achieved as a result of that drilling partnership, the other key assumptions underlying our projections, and future marketing opportunities, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although Antero Resources believes that the plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there is no assurance that these plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements. Except as required by law, Antero Resources expressly disclaims any obligation to and does not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Antero Resources cautions you that these forward-looking statements are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties, incident to the exploration for and development, production, gathering and sale of natural gas, NGLs and oil most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Antero Resources' control. These risks include, but are not limited to, commodity price volatility, inflation, lack of availability of drilling and production equipment and services, environmental risks, drilling and other operating risks, regulatory changes, the uncertainty inherent in estimating natural gas and oil reserves and in projecting future rates of production, cash flow and access to capital, the timing of development expenditures, impacts of world health event, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the other risks described under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Antero Resources' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March31, 2021.

The following table set forth selected financial data for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021

The following table set forth selected operating data for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2021: