Whiting completes North Dakota Bakken well

Whiting Petroleum Corporation has completed the Liffrig 11-27H well flowing at a daily rate of 2,247 barrels of oil and 1.7 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas or 2,530 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) during a 24-hour test of the Middle Bakken formation at a vertical depth of approximately 9,920 feet. The well was drilled on the Company’s Robinson Lake prospect, which has been designated the Sanish field, in Mountrail County, North Dakota.

Production from the Liffrig well was gauged on a 17/64-inch choke with a flowing casing pressure of 1,300 psi. The single lateral well, which was drilled on a 1,280-acre spacing unit, penetrated 7,720 feet of horizontal pay in the Middle Bakken. Whiting holds an 81% working interest and a 67% net revenue interest in the well and is the operator.

On December 16, 2007, Whiting completed the Locken 11-22H well, located in the two sections immediately north of the Liffrig 11-27H, flowing at an initial rate 1,323 barrels of oil and 2.0 MMcf of gas during a 24-hour test of the Bakken formation at a vertical depth of approximately 9,920 feet. During the first 30 days of production, this well averaged 818 barrels of oil and 828 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of gas per day. Drilled on a 1,280-acre spacing unit, this single lateral well penetrated 7,625 feet of horizontal pay. Whiting owns a 99% working interest and an 82% net revenue interest in the well and is the operator.

The oil produced from the Sanish field is high quality sweet crude (41 - 42 API gravity) that sells at or near West Texas Intermediate posted price levels. These prices typically range from $3.50 to $6.50 below NYMEX prices.