Antero Resources Corp. (NYSE: AR) announced Jan. 14 its fourth-quarter 2014 operational highlights and an update on its commodity hedge position.

The Denver company said net daily production for the fourth quarter of 2014 averaged 1,265 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d), including 30,400 barrels per day (bbl/d) of liquids (14% liquids).

Fourth-quarter 2014 production represents an organic production growth rate of 87% from fourth-quarter 2013 and 17% from third-quarter 2014. Liquids production for the fourth quarter of 2014 represents an organic production growth rate of 172% from fourth-quarter 2013 and 22% from third-quarter 2014.

The company has now completed and placed online a combined 415 horizontal wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays since commencing drilling operations in Appalachia in 2009.

Antero's net daily production for 2014 averaged 1,007 MMcfe/d, an increase of 93% from the prior year. Net production was comprised of 869 MMcf/d of natural gas (86%), 19,500 bbl/d of NGLs (12%) and 3,600 bbl/d of crude oil (2%). Net liquids production of 23,100 bbl/d for 2014 increased 259% over the prior year.

Marcellus Shale

Antero utilized shorter stage length (SSL) completions on virtually all of its 136 horizontal Marcellus wells completed and placed online during 2014. Of the 136 wells completed in 2014 utilizing SSL completions, 126 have been online for more than 30 days and had an average 30-day rate of 13.1 MMcfe/d while rejecting ethane (15% liquids). The average lateral length for the 136 wells was about 8,050 feet.

Production rates from SSL wells continue to exhibit a 20-30% improvement as compared to the non-SSL type curve. The average well cost for an SSL well, defined as a well with an average stage length less than 225 feet, is about 10-15% higher than a comparable non-SSL well with an average stage length of 350 feet.

During the fourth quarter, Antero placed online the four-well Wagner Pad which had a combined 59 MMcfe/d peak 30-day sales rate with 1175 British thermal unit (Btu) gas while rejecting ethane (14% liquids). The strong 30-day rates are supportive of the continued transition of Antero's development program into the more liquids rich areas of its Marcellus leasehold position utilizing SSL completions.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, MarkWest Energy Partners LP (NYSE: MWE) placed into service Sherwood 5, a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic processing plant located in Doddridge County, W.Va. The addition of this plant has increased Antero's firm cryogenic processing capacity in the Marcellus to a total of 950 MMcf/d.

Utica Shale

Antero completed and placed online 41 wells in the Utica Shale during 2014. All of the 41 wells completed in 2014 have been online for more than 30 days and had an average 30-day rate of 18.5 MMcfe/d while rejecting ethane (44% liquids). The average lateral length for the 41 wells was about 8,020 feet.

During the fourth quarter, Antero placed online the four-well Urban Pad which had a combined 74 MMcfe/d peak 30-day sales rate with 1195 Btu gas while rejecting ethane (16% liquids). All four wells on the pad were drilled on 750-foot interlateral spacing.

In December, Antero closed on an acquisition of roughly 12,000 net acres in the Utica Shale play for about $240 million.

The acreage is primarily located in the core of the Utica Shale dry gas regime in Monroe County, Ohio. In addition to the undeveloped acreage, the acquisition included producing properties with about 20 MMcfe/d of current net production from five horizontal wells and an eight mile 12-inch high pressure gathering pipeline.

The acquired producing wells contributed about 6 MMcfe/d to fourth-quarter 2014 net equivalent production.

Through the transaction, Antero has identified an additional 115 gross drilling locations in the Utica Shale dry gas regime and expects to add about 29 Bcf of proved and 1 Tcf of 3P reserves.

Additionally, at June 30, 2014 SEC prices, these locations had about $560 million of PV-10 value. The transaction was funded using borrowings under the company's credit facility.

Hedge Position

Antero currently has hedged 1.8 Tcfe of future natural gas equivalent production using fixed price swaps covering the period from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020 at an average index price of $4.43 per MMBtu.