ENID, Okla., July 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Resources, Inc. today announced initial results from its Mathistad 1-35H well completed in the Three Forks/Sanish formation in the North Dakota Bakken Shale area. The McKenzie County well, in which Continental has a 40% working interest, is the second that the Company has completed in the Three Forks/Sanish formation in North Dakota.
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"The Mathistad 1-35H commenced production on July 4, 2008 and has flowed at an average rate of 1,095 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day, with 90 percent of production being crude oil and 10 percent natural gas," said Harold Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Continental Resources. "This is a second positive data point in our effort to determine whether the Three Forks/Sanish formation is a separate oil-producing reservoir not drained by a horizontal well completion in the Middle Bakken zone above it. If the Three Forks/Sanish proves to be a separate reservoir, it would add significant incremental reserves to the Bakken play."
On May 20, 2008 the Company reported that its first Three Forks/Sanish well, the Bice 1-29H, had flowed at an average rate of 693 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day in its initial week of production. The Mathistad 1-35H was drilled 23 miles north northwest of the Bice well. At the site of the Mathistad 1-35H, the top of the Three Forks/Sanish formation lies approximately 75 feet beneath the base of the Upper Bakken shale. Previous to the Bice and Mathistad wells, Continental typically completed its North Dakota Bakken wells with the well bore drilled approximately eight feet below the base of the Upper Bakken shale, in the Middle Bakken zone.
Continental is the largest leaseholder in the Bakken Shale play, with approximately 500,000 acres in North Dakota and Montana. The majority of its acreage runs north-to-south along the Nesson Anticline in North Dakota.
On April 10, 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey published a new assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable crude oil in the North Dakota and Montana Bakken Shale play, estimating that 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered crude oil are technically recoverable with currently available technology and industry practices. The 2008 estimate made the Bakken the largest continuous oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS in the lower 48 states. The Company believes the USGS assessment for the Bakken would increase significantly if the Three Forks/Sanish zone eventually proves to be a separate oil-producing zone over most of the Bakken shale area.
Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call
As previously announced, Continental plans to issue its second quarter 2008 earnings press release on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 before the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company plans to host a conference call on the same day at 10 a.m. ET to discuss its results for the quarter.
Those wishing to listen to the conference call may do so via the Company's web site at http://www.contres.com/ or by phone:
Continental Resources Second Quarter 2008 Conference Call Time and date: 10 a.m. ET Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Dial in: 888-680-0878 Intl. dial in: 617-213-4855 Pass code: 94076373
Continental Resources is a crude-oil concentrated, independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company with operations in the Rocky Mountain, Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. The Company focuses its operations in large new and developing resource plays where horizontal drilling, advanced fracture stimulation and enhanced recovery technologies provide the means to economically develop and produce oil and natural gas reserves from unconventional formations.
Contact: Warren Henry Brian Engel Investor Relations Media (580) 548-5127 (580) 249-4731
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