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DENVER, April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE: AR) ("Antero Resources," "Antero," or the "Company") today announced its first quarter 2025 financial and operating results. The relevant consolidated financial statements are included in Antero Resources' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

Highlights:

• Net production averaged 3.4 Bcfe/d
  • Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d
  • Liquids production averaged 206 MBbl/d
• Realized a pre-hedge natural gas equivalent price of $4.55 per Mcfe, which is a $0.90 per Mcfe premium to NYMEX
• Realized a pre-hedge C3+ NGL price of $45.65 per barrel, a $1.66 per barrel premium to Mont Belvieu pricing
• Net income was $208 million and Adjusted Net Income was $247 million (Non-GAAP)
• Adjusted EBITDAX was $549 million (Non-GAAP); net cash provided by operating activities was $458 million, increases of 110% and 75% compared to the prior year period, respectively
• Drilling and completion capital was $157 million, 16% below the prior year period
• Free Cash Flow was $337 million (Non-GAAP)
• Net Debt during the quarter was reduced by $204 million, to $1.29 billion (Non-GAAP)
• Purchased 2.7 million shares for approximately $92 million year-to-date through April 30th

Paul Rady, Chairman, CEO and President of Antero Resources commented, "Our first quarter 2025 results highlight the benefit of Antero's differentiated strategy in securing firm transportation capacity that sells the majority of our natural gas along the Gulf Coast LNG corridor. The faster than expected ramp-up of Gulf Coast LNG facilities led to record LNG demand and contributed to natural gas realizations at a $0.36 premium to NYMEX during the quarter. Bolstering our premium price realization outlook further, on the NGL side, we entered into firm sales agreements for approximately 90% of our LPG at the Marcus Hook, PA dock at an attractive double-digit premium to Mont Belvieu pricing for 2025. This contracted pricing is expected to deliver an approximate $2.00 per barrel premium to Mont Belvieu in 2025."

Michael Kennedy, CFO of Antero Resources said, "Our ability to capture premium prices along with our best-in-class capital efficiency results in an attractive Free Cash Flow outlook. This outlook combined with our low debt levels allowed us to be opportunistic in our share repurchase program, starting it earlier than our previous forecast."

Mr. Kennedy continued, "In addition, we reduced debt by over $200 million during the quarter. Looking ahead, we plan to actively manage our share repurchase program, accelerating buybacks when there are market opportunities. This plan also maintains our focus on further debt reduction as we are targeting an undrawn credit facility."

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."

Free Cash Flow

During the first quarter of 2025, Free Cash Flow was $337 million.

Share Repurchase Program

From January 1st, 2025 to April 30th, 2025 Antero purchased 2.7 million shares at an average weighted price of $34.18 per share, or an aggregate $92 million. Antero has approximately $1 billion of capacity remaining on its current share repurchase program.

Debt Reduction

As of March 31, 2025 Antero's total debt was $1.29 billion. Net Debt to trailing twelve month Adjusted EBITDAX was 1.1x. During the quarter, Antero reduced total debt by $204 million.

LPG Firm Sales Contracts

Antero entered into sales agreements for approximately 90% of its LPG export volumes for 2025 at a double-digit per cent per gallon premium to Mont Belvieu pricing. These locked-in firm sales do not have cancellation rights. As a result of these firm sales, the Company continues to expect full year 2025 C3+ NGL prices to average a premium to Mont Belvieu pricing in the range of $1.50 to $2.50 per barrel.

Lean Gas Hedge Program

Antero added new natural gas collars for 2026 with the amounts tied to the expected volumes from its lean gas (approximately 1200 BTU or less) pads planned through the end of 2026. Antero's portfolio includes lean gas development in its capital budget for high gas deliverability and midstream infrastructure availability. These wide collars lock in attractive rates of returns with a floor price of $3.07 per MMBtu with a ceiling of $5.96 per MMBtu. Antero did not enter into any new natural gas hedges for 2025. For more detail please see the presentation titled "Hedges and Guidance Presentation" on Antero's website.

First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Net daily natural gas equivalent production in the first quarter averaged 3.4 Bcfe/d, including 206 MBbl/d of liquids. Antero's average realized natural gas price before hedges was $4.01 per Mcf, a $0.36 per Mcf premium to the benchmark index price. Antero's average realized C3+ NGL price before hedges was $45.65 per barrel, a $1.66 per barrel premium to the benchmark index price.

The following table details average net production and average realized prices for the three months ended March 31, 2025:

All-in cash expense, which includes lease operating, gathering, compression, processing and transportation and production and ad valorem taxes was $2.56 per Mcfe in the first quarter, as compared to $2.44 per Mcfe during the first quarter of 2024. The increase was due primarily to higher gathering, compression, processing and transportation costs related to increased fuel costs as a result of higher natural gas prices. Net marketing expense was $0.06 per Mcfe during the first quarter of 2025, compared to $0.04 per Mcfe during the first quarter of 2024.

First Quarter 2025 Operating Results

Antero placed 26 horizontal Marcellus wells to sales during the first quarter with an average lateral length of 13,700 feet. Sixteen of these wells have been on line for approximately 60 days with an average rate per well of 32 MMcfe/d, including 1,458 Bbl/d of liquids per well assuming 25% ethane recovery.

First Quarter 2025 Capital Investment

Antero's drilling and completion capital expenditures for the three months ended March 31, 2025 were $157 million. In addition to capital invested in drilling and completion activities, the Company leased $30 million in land during the first quarter. Through this leasing, Antero added approximately 6,000 net acres, representing 26 incremental drilling locations, replenishing the 26 wells brought on line during the first quarter at an average cost of approximately $850,000 per location.

Conference Call

A conference call is scheduled on Thursday, May 1, 2025 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. 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 8, 2025 at 9:00 am MT at 877-660-6853 (U.S.) or 201-612-7415 (International) using the conference ID: 13750395. To access the live webcast and view the related earnings conference call presentation, visit Antero's website at www.anteroresources.com. The webcast will be archived for replay until Thursday, May 8, 2025 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

Adjusted Net Income as set forth in this release represents net income, adjusted for certain items. Antero believes that Adjusted Net Income 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 is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net income as an indicator of financial performance. The GAAP measure most directly comparable to Adjusted Net Income is net income. The following table reconciles net income to Adjusted Net Income (in thousands):

Net Debt

Net Debt is calculated as total long-term 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 long-term 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 capital expenditures, which includes additions to unproved properties, drilling and completion costs and additions to other property and equipment, 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, service or incur additional debt and estimate our ability to return capital to shareholders. 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, 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 GAAP measures most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDAX are net income and net cash provided by operating activities. The following table represents a reconciliation of Antero's net income, including noncontrolling interest, to Adjusted EBITDAX and a reconciliation of Antero's Adjusted EBITDAX to net cash provided by operating activities per our condensed consolidated statements of cash flows, in each case, for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2025 (in thousands). 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.

This release includes "forward-looking statements." Words such as "may," "assume," "forecast," "position," "predict," "strategy," "expect," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "project," "budget," "potential," or "continue," and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. 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 our strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, estimated realized natural gas, NGL and oil prices, anticipated reductions in letters of credit and interest expense, prospects, plans and objectives of management, return of capital, expected results, impacts of geopolitical and world health events, future commodity prices, future production targets, 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, expected drilling and development plans, projected well costs and cost savings initiatives, operations of Antero Midstream, 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. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current beliefs, based on currently available information, as to the outcome and timing of future events. 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, supply chain or other disruption, availability and cost of drilling, completion and production equipment and services, environmental risks, drilling and completion and other operating risks, marketing and transportation risks, regulatory changes or changes in law, the uncertainty inherent in estimating natural gas, NGLs and oil reserves and in projecting future rates of production, cash flows and access to capital, the timing of development expenditures, conflicts of interest among our stockholders, impacts of geopolitical and world health events, cybersecurity risks, the state of markets for, and availability of, verified quality carbon offsets and the other risks described under the heading " Risk Factors" in Antero Resources' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

The following table sets forth selected financial data for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2025 (in thousands):

The following table sets forth selected financial data for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2025:

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SOURCE Antero Resources Corporation