(12) Leases

The Company leases certain office space, processing plants, drilling rigs and completion services, gas gathering lines, compressor stations, and other office and field equipment. Leases with an initial term of 12 months or less are considered short-term and are not recorded on the balance sheet. Instead, the short-term leases are recognized in expense on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Most leases include one or more options to renew, with renewal terms that can extend the lease from one to 20 years or more. The exercise of the lease renewal options is at the Company’s sole discretion. The depreciable lives of the leased assets are limited by the expected lease term, unless there is a transfer of title or purchase option reasonably certain of exercise.

Certain of the Company’s lease agreements include minimum payments based on a percentage of produced volumes over contractual levels and others include rental payments adjusted periodically for inflation.

The Company considers all contracts that have assets specified in the contract, either explicitly or implicitly, that the Company has substantially all of the capacity of the asset, and has the right to obtain substantially all of the economic benefits of that asset, without the lessor’s ability to have a substantive right to substitute that asset, as leased assets. For any contract deemed to include a leased asset, that asset is capitalized on the condensed consolidated balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a corresponding lease liability is recorded at the present value of the known future minimum payments of the contract using a discount rate on the date of commencement. The leased asset classification is determined at the date of recording as either operating or financing, depending upon certain criteria of the contract.

The discount rate used for present value calculations is the discount rate implicit in the contract. If an implicit rate is not determinable, a collateralized incremental borrowing rate is used at the date of commencement. As new leases commence or previous leases are modified, the discount rate used in the present value calculation is the current period applicable discount rate.

The Company has made an accounting policy election to adopt the practical expedient for combining lease and non-lease components on an asset class basis. This expedient allows the Company to combine non-lease components such as real estate taxes, insurance, maintenance and other operating expenses associated with the leased premises with the lease component of a lease agreement on an asset class basis when the non-lease components of the agreement cannot be easily bifurcated from the lease payment. Currently, the Company is only applying this expedient to certain office space agreements.

The Company’s lease assets and liabilities consisted of the following items (in thousands):

The processing plants, gas gathering lines and compressor stations that are classified as lease liabilities are classified as such under FASB ASC Topic 842, Leases, because Antero (i) is the sole customer of the assets and (ii) makes the decisions that most impact the economic performance of the assets.

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Costs associated with operating and finance leases were included in the unaudited condensed consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income (in thousands):

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The following table presents the Company’s supplemental cash flow information related to leases (in thousands):

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The table below is a schedule of future minimum payments for operating and financing lease liabilities as of September 30, 2026 (in thousands):

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The following table sets forth the Company’s weighted average remaining lease term and discount rate:

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The Company has gathering and compression service agreements with Antero Midstream that include: (i) the second amended and restated gathering and compression agreement dated December 8, 2019, including the updates agreed to in principle as it relates to the HG Acquisition (the “2019 gathering and compression agreement”), (ii) a gathering and compression agreement from Antero Midstream’s acquisition in 2022 of certain Marcellus gathering and compression assets in an area of dedication (the “Marcellus gathering and compression agreement”) and (iii) a gathering and compression agreement from Antero Midstream’s acquisition in the second quarter of 2024 of certain central Marcellus gathering and compression assets (the “Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement”). The Company also had a compression agreement from Antero Midstream’s acquisition in 2022 of certain Utica compressors that was divested at the closing of the Utica Shale Divestiture on February 23, 2026 (the “Utica compression agreement” and together with the 2019 gathering and compression agreement, the Marcellus gathering and compression agreement and the Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement, the “gathering and compression agreements”). Pursuant to the gathering and compression agreements with Antero Midstream, the Company has dedicated substantially all of its current and future acreage in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Antero Midstream for gathering and compression services. The 2019 gathering and compression agreement, Marcellus gathering and compression agreement and Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement have initial terms through 2038, 2031 and 2026, respectively. Upon expiration of the Marcellus gathering and compression agreement and Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement, Antero Midstream will continue to provide gathering and compression services under the 2019 gathering and compression agreement.

Under the gathering and compression agreements, Antero Midstream receives a gathering fee per Mcf, a centralized compression fee per Mcf and high pressure gathering fee per Mcf, as applicable, subject to annual Consumer Price Index (“CPI”)-based adjustments. In addition, Antero Midstream receives fees for well pad compression that include (i) reimbursement of Antero Midstream’s third-party out-of-pocket costs plus 3% for well pad compression services provided by third-party-owned equipment and (ii) a cost of service fee that allows Antero Midstream to earn a return on capital invested of 13% per annum over a period of seven years for well pad compression services provided by Antero Midstream-owned assets. If and to the extent the Company requests that Antero Midstream construct gathering lines, centralized compressor stations and/or high pressure lines, the 2019 gathering and compression agreement contains options at Antero Midstream’s election for either (i) minimum volume commitments that require Antero Resources to utilize or pay for 70% of the centralized compression capacity and 75% of the high pressure gathering capacity of the requested capacity of such new construction for 10 years or (ii) a cost of service fee that allows Antero Midstream to earn a return on capital invested of 13% per annum over a

period of seven years. The Marcellus gathering and compression agreement provides for a minimum volume commitment that requires the Company to utilize or pay for 25% of the compression capacity for a period of 10 years from the in-service date. The Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement provides for monthly minimum gathering fees for each compressor station or high pressure gathering line, respectively, for a period of 12 years commencing 90 days after such asset’s in-service date. As of September 30, 2026, the minimum volume commitments for the 2019 gathering and compression agreement end in 2035, and the minimum gathering fees for the Mountaineer gathering and compression agreement end in 2026. As of January 1, 2025, there were no minimum volume commitments under the Marcellus gathering and compression agreement.

Upon completion of the initial contract term, the 2019 gathering and compression agreement will continue in effect from year to year until such time as the agreement is terminated, effective upon an anniversary of the effective date of the agreement, by notice from either the Company or Antero Midstream to the other party on or before the 180th day prior to the anniversary of such agreement.

Gathering and compression fees paid by the Company related to these agreements were $212 million and $247 million for the three months ended September 30, 2025 and 2026, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025 and 2026, gathering and compression fees paid by the Company related to these agreements were $629 million and $715 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2025 and September 30, 2026, $85 million and $90 million, respectively, was included within accounts payable, related parties on the condensed consolidated balance sheets as due to Antero Midstream related to these agreements.