Antero Midstream LLC, a subsidiary of Antero Midstream Corp., Denver, has acquired natural gas gathering and compression assets in the Marcellus shale from Mountaineer Midstream LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Summit Midstream Partners LP, for $70 million in cash.
The Mountaineer Midstream System in Doddridge and Harrison counties in West Virginia includes two compressor stations and 48 miles of high-pressure gas gathering pipelines. With the sale, Summit Midstream has fully exited the Northeast segment, it said in a release May 2.
Commenting on the deal in a separate release, Paul Rady, chairman and chief executive officer of Antero Midstream, said the compression and high-pressure gathering assets are "already interconnected with Antero Midstream's low pressure gathering system," and that the company "now gathers and compresses substantially all of Antero Resources' production."
The Appalachia basin bolt-on deal follows Antero's 2022 deal to acquire Marcellus shale gathering and compression assets from Crestwood Equity Partners LP (OGJ Online, Sept. 13, 2022).
With the new deal closed as of May 1, Antero Midstream increased its 2024 guidance. At the midpoint, net income guidance has increased $10 million to $415-455 million, while adjusted net income guidance has increased by the same amount to $470-510 million. Expected capital expenditures for the year remain unchanged at $150-170 million.
First-quarter results
For first-quarter 2024, Antero Midstream increased its gathering and processing volumes compared with the prior year quarter. Low pressure gathering volumes for the quarter averaged 3.301 bcfd, a 4% increase over first-quarter 2023. Compression volumes averaged 3.260 bcfd, a 4% increase compared with the prior year quarter. High pressure gathering volumes averaged 2.966 bcfd, a 6% increase compared with the prior year quarter.
Gross processing volumes from the processing and fractionation joint venture with MPLX, LP averaged 1,602 MMcfd for first-quarter 2024, a 6% increase compared to the prior year quarter. Joint venture processing capacity was about 100% utilized during the quarter based on nameplate processing capacity of 1.6 bcfd. Gross joint venture fractionation volumes averaged 40,000 b/d, an 11% increase compared with the prior year quarter.
Net income for the quarter was a company record $104 million. Adjusted net income was $117 million.
