LRR Energy, L.P. Announces 2014 Fourth Quarter and Year End Results and 2015 Guidance

LRR Energy, L.P. (NYSE: LRE) (“LRR Energy”) announced today its operating and financial results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2014.

Eric Mullins, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Overall, we are pleased with our results for the fourth quarter of 2014. Our financial and operating results improved over the third quarter in part due to our Stroud acquisition that closed on October 1, 2014.” Charlie Adcock, Co-Chief Executive Officer, reflected that, “Despite our strong quarter, we expect that 2015 will be challenging given the current outlook for commodity prices, which is reflected in our 2015 capital budget. Our Board of Directors approved a 2015 capital budget of $19 million, which is a 46% decrease from our 2014 capital budget of $35 million.”

Selected Financial and Operating Information

A summary of selected financial and operating information follows. For consolidated financial statements for the three months and year ended December 31, 2014, please see the accompanying tables on pages 7-9.

LRR Energy’s average net production for the first quarter of 2015 was approximately 6,750 Boe/d through February 28, 2015.

Proved Reserves

As of December 31, 2014, LRR Energy had 33.8 MMBoe of estimated proved reserves, of which approximately 88% were proved developed reserves. Our reserves are 52% oil and NGLs and 48% natural gas as measured by volume as of December 31, 2014. Excluding the impact of production during 2014 and reserve adds associated with the Stroud acquisition, proved reserves increased 12% compared to 2013 due to reserve additions and revisions. Production replacement through reserve additions and revisions during 2014 was 155%. The reserve estimates were calculated using the unweighted arithmetic average first-day-of-the-month closing price for each month of 2014. Commodity prices were adjusted by lease for quality, transportation fees, geographical differentials, marketing bonuses or deductions and other factors affecting the price received at the wellhead. The average trailing twelve-month index prices were $94.99/Bbl for NYMEX-WTI and $4.35/MMBtu for NYMEX-Henry Hub natural gas. For NGL pricing, a differential is applied to the $94.99/Bbl average trailing twelve-month index price for oil. As of December 31, 2014, the standardized measure of our estimated proved reserves was $441.7 million.

Recent Events

As of March 2, 2015, LRR Energy had $240 million of outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility and $50 million of outstanding borrowings under its term loan. LRR Energy currently has $20 million of available borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facility. Based on the current commodity price environment and our 2014 year end proved reserves, our borrowing base may be reduced below our current outstanding borrowings. We are reviewing alternatives to reduce our outstanding debt under the Credit Agreement, which may include the issuance of debt and equity and the sale of assets. Management believes cash flow from operations and the proceeds from various financing alternatives including our At-the-Market Offering Program with MLV and Co., LLC will provide the financial flexibility to execute our 2015 capital program and debt reduction.

On January 20, 2015, LRR Energy announced that the Board of Directors of its general partner declared a cash distribution for the fourth quarter of 2014 of $0.4975 per outstanding unit, or $1.99 on an annualized basis. The distribution was paid on February 13, 2015 to all unitholders of record as of the close of business on January 30, 2015. Additionally on February 13, 2015, LRR Energy converted the remaining 4,480,000 subordinated units on a one-for-one basis into common units pursuant to the terms of its partnership agreement.

2015 Guidance

Based on current estimates and outlook for commodity prices, and assuming no future acquisitions, our 2015 guidance is as follows:

Our 2015 capital expenditure budget of $19.0 million consists entirely of maintenance capital expenditures. As with the past few years, the significant majority of our capital program will be focused in our Red Lake field within the Permian Basin. Approximately 83% and 86% of the budget is earmarked for our Red Lake Field and the Permian Basin, respectively. Approximately 12% of the budget is in the Mid-Continent, primarily for non-operated horizontal drilling in the Putnam field and the remaining 2% in the Gulf Coast region. Approximately 56% of the budget is allocated towards recompletions, 29% towards drilling and completions and the remaining 15% towards non-production related projects, which includes facility upgrades and plugging and abandonment projects. In total, we intend to participate in the drilling of 5 wells, 3 of which are LRR Energy-operated Red Lake wells, and recomplete 26 Red Lake wells during 2015.

The guidance above sets forth management’s best estimate based on current and anticipated market conditions and other factors. While management believes that these estimates and assumptions are reasonable, they are inherently uncertain and are subject to, among other things, significant business, economic, regulatory, environmental and competitive risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those management anticipates, as set forth under “Forward-Looking Statements.”

Commodity Derivative Contracts

As of December 31, 2014, LRR Energy had the following outstanding derivative contracts.

Annual Report

LRR Energy expects to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission no later than March 6, 2015. The 10-K will be available on the Investor Relations page of LRR Energy’s website at www.lrrenergy.com or on the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov.

Webcast and Conference Call

LRR Energy will host a webcast and conference call on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (9:00 a.m. Central time) to discuss these results. Interested parties are invited to participate in the call by dialing 1-877-493-8071 (conference ID: 70811704). It is recommended that participants dial in approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference call. Participants may access the webcast from LRR Energy’s website, www.lrrenergy.com, under the tab for "Investor Relations."

A telephonic replay will be available after the call through March 18, 2015. Participants may access this replay by dialing 1-800-585-8367 (conference ID: 70811704).

About LRR Energy, L.P.

LRR Energy is a Delaware limited partnership formed in April 2011 by affiliates of Lime Rock Resources to operate, acquire, exploit and develop producing oil and natural gas properties in North America. LRR Energy's properties are located in the Permian Basin region in West Texas and southeast New Mexico, the Mid-Continent region in Oklahoma and East Texas and the Gulf Coast region in Texas.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" — that is, statements related to future events. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of LRR Energy and include any statement that does not directly relate to a current or historical fact. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business, operational and financial performance, and often contain words such as "may," "predict," "pursue," "expect," "estimate," "project," "plan," "believe," "intend," "achievable," "anticipate," "target," "continue," "potential," "should," "could" and other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties, and ultimately may not prove to be accurate. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the risk that oil, natural gas or NGL prices will remain at current levels for a prolonged period or decline further, the risk and uncertainties involved in producing oil and natural gas, competition in the oil and natural gas industry, governmental regulations and other factors. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements due to the factors described under the captions "Risk Factors" in LRR Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and LRR Energy's subsequent filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. LRR Energy does not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

LRR Energy, L.P.
Non-GAAP Reconciliation
(in thousands)
(unaudited)

LRR Energy defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) plus or minus income tax expense; interest expense-net, including loss (gain) on interest rate derivative instruments, net; depletion and depreciation; accretion of asset retirement obligations; amortization of equity awards; loss (gain) on settlement of asset retirement obligations; loss (gain) on commodity derivative instruments, net; commodity derivative instrument net cash settlements; impairment of oil and natural gas properties; and other non-recurring items that LRR Energy deems appropriate.

Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by LRR Energy’s management and by external users of its financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others, to assess LRR Energy’s financial performance as compared to that of other companies and partnerships in the industry, without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis.

Distributable Cash Flow is defined as Adjusted EBITDA less cash income tax expense; cash interest expense; and estimated maintenance capital. Distribution Coverage Ratio is defined as the ratio of Distributable Cash Flow to the total quarterly distribution payable on all of LRR Energy’s outstanding common, subordinated and general partner units.

Distributable Cash Flow and the Distribution Coverage Ratio are used as supplemental financial measures by LRR Energy’s management and by external users of its financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others to compare basic cash flows generated by LRR Energy (prior to the establishment of any retained cash reserve by its general partner) to the cash distributions it expects to pay its unitholders. Distributable Cash Flow and the Distribution Coverage Ratio are also important financial measures for LRR Energy’s unitholders as they serve as indicators of its success in providing a cash return on investment. Specifically, these metrics indicate to investors whether or not LRR Energy is generating cash flow at a level that can sustain or support an increase in its quarterly distribution rates. Distributable Cash Flow and the Distribution Coverage Ratio are quantitative standards used throughout the investment community with respect to publicly traded partnerships and limited liability companies because the yield is based on the amount of cash distributions the entity pays to a unitholder compared to the unit price.

LRR Energy’s management believes that Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow and the Distribution Coverage Ratio are useful to investors because these measures are used by many partnerships in the industry as measures of operating and financial performance and are commonly employed by financial analysts and others to evaluate its operating and financial performance from period to period and to compare it with the performance of other publicly traded partnerships within the industry. Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow and the Distribution Coverage Ratio should not be considered alternatives to net income, operating income or any other measures of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP. LRR Energy’s Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow and Distribution Coverage Ratio may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of another company because all companies may not calculate Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow or the Distribution Coverage Ratio in the same manner. The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, Distributable Cash Flow and Distribution Coverage Ratio to net income (loss), LRR Energy’s most directly comparable GAAP financial performance measure, for the three months and years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.