Continental Resources Business Practices

[ou48A]

Doesn't Oklahoma already provide a huge tax break for drilling?

Drilling is a totally separate issue.

This would take us beyond drilling to more processing and refining activities and the products they produce.
With some of these products we could manufacture other value added products at cost competitive prices.
This is already being done in Oklahoma but just not nearly enough IMHO.

[Teo9969]

If they keep progressing at the rate they are progressing, they'll be a Fortune 500 company before the decade turns.

[ou48A]

As you read this please remember CLR is the largest acreage holder in the Bakken.
This will do good things for CLR and OKC.
Is Bakken set to rival Ghawar? John Kemp | Reuters

Fri Nov 9, 2012 11:48am EST

(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

By John Kemp

LONDON (Reuters) - Could oil production from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana rival output from Saudi Arabia's supergiant Ghawar oilfield, the greatest oil-bearing structure the world has ever known?

Until recently, comparisons between the shale fields of the Bakken and Ghawar, which produces 5 million barrels per day, would have been dismissed as fanciful.

But Bakken's exponential growth and enormous reserves put it on course to produce more than 1 million barrels per day by the middle of next year, which will earn it a place in the small pantheon of truly elite oil fields.

Ghawar accounts for nearly half of Saudi Arabia's total declared capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day and has produced more than 65 billion barrels of oil since 1951.

Ghawar is one of only six super-giant oil fields that have produced more than 1 million barrels per day at their peak. Others are Burgan (Kuwait), Cantarell (Mexico), Daqing (China) and in the 1970s and 1980s Samotlor (Russia) and Kirkuk (Iraq).

Discovered in 1948, and just 174 miles long by no more than 31 miles wide, Ghawar is an extraordinary structure.

"It is unlikely that any new oilfield will ever rival the bounteous production Ghawar has delivered to Saudi Arabia and the international petroleum markets," energy expert Matthew Simmons explained in "Twilight in the Desert", his controversial 2005 book about Saudi Arabia's diminishing oil reserves.

No other super-giant has been discovered in the last 35 years (the last was Cantarell in 1976). Failure to find any more caused Simmons and other experts to worry world oil production was close to peaking in the late 2000s.

THE NEW SUPER-GIANT

But now Bakken has burst onto the scene. Output hit 631,000 barrels per day in August 2012, according to North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources, up from 256,000 barrels per day in August 2010 and just 83,000 barrels per day in August 2008.

Growth has been exponential (in the true sense of the word). Output has been increasing at a steady rate of about 65 percent a year since late 2009 and shows no sign of slowing (link.reuters.com/vys83t).

If growth continues at this pace for the next 12 months, and there is no reason to think it won't, production will top 1 million barrels a day by August 2013.

Some analysts will complain about the comparison. Ghawar is a conventional field: a single, well-defined accumulation of oil. In contrast, the Bakken is a collection of dozens of small fields in an unconventional "continuous-type" deposit without well defined boundaries.

But the two are not so very different in size. Ghawar covers about 2,000 square miles. The core of the Bakken is 15,000 square miles, according to Continental Resources, one of the pioneering exploration and production companies operating in the area. Rough comparisons are reasonable.

THREE FORKS FORMATION

Bakken is proving to be one of the most prolific oil-producing patches in the world. It continues to outstrip even the most optimistic forecasts.

At the moment the industry has completed just 5,000 wells in the Bakken at an average spacing of less than 1 well per 1,280-acre unit. But Continental estimates the core could support up to 52,000 wells with four to eight wells per 1,280-acre unit for full development.

Bakken contains about 577 billion barrels of oil and gas, of which about 24 billion barrels should be technically recoverable, according to Continental. But underneath Bakken in the same area is the Three Forks formation, which Continental believes could contain an even greater 900 billion barrels, of which perhaps 32 billion barrels might be technically recoverable.

Continental's estimates are probably colored by a developer's natural optimism. But the company has been the leading innovator in what has become North America's hottest oil play, and it has been proven consistently right.

More conservative estimates still show that the combined resources of the Bakken and Three Forks are enormous.

CONVENTIONAL VS CONTINUOUS

In a conventional oil or gas system, hydrocarbons are produced in a source rock and migrate through tiny pores or along fault lines before accumulating in a reservoir rock, from which they are produced.

The source rock must have a high proportion of organic material (typically at least 1-3 percent) to generate petroleum. It must be buried to the correct depth and temperature for the organic material to mature into oil (2000-5500 meters, 60-150 degrees centigrade) or gas (anything deeper than 5500 meters, and hotter than 150 degrees).

There must be sufficient cracks or porosity to allow the produced oil and gas to migrate from the source and accumulate in a reservoir rock. And the reservoir must be sealed by a cap to prevent the oil and gas migrating any further, allowing it to accumulate in sufficient concentrations to be extracted profitably.

Source, maturation, migration, reservoir and trap must all come together in exactly the right sequence. If any one of these elements is missing or occurs in the wrong sequence, oil and gas will not accumulate in a discrete pool.

Bakken, Three Forks and other shale plays are what the United States Geological Survey calls "continuous-type" resources.

In these deposits, the oil and gas is extracted direct from a source rock or a much more extensive reservoir rock nearby.

The Bakken, for example, consists of three layers, known as "members": the upper and lower shales (which are the source of the oil) and a middle sandstone layer (which is the reservoir). Drilling into the shales has been relatively unsuccessful. Most oil is being produced from wells drilled into the middle sandstone member.

BAKKEN CHANGES EVERYTHING

The conditions are less demanding for continuous-type resources than for conventional deposits, which is why shale deposits are distributed much more widely around the world.

The problem, until recently, was that oil and gas could not be extracted profitably from continuous-type resources. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have changed the situation, unlocking oil and gas from previously inaccessible tight rock formations with low porosity and poor flow rates.

Conventional super-giants such as Ghawar may never be discovered again, although exploration is pushing into new areas offshore and in the Arctic. But that may not matter if oil and gas can be wrung from more commonly occurring continuous deposits.

Bakken has a long way to go before production overtakes Ghawar. But the play has already defied most expectations that it will slow. At the very least, Bakken will join the world's largest oil-producing zones next year. In the process, it has changed the oil industry forever.

[ou48A]

This is pretty big news for Oklahoma and for CLR


COLUMN-Oklahoma gears up for next big shale play: John Kemp | Reuters
Wed Nov 28, 2012 11:44am EST
By John Kemp

LONDON Nov 28 (Reuters) - Oklahoma could be on course to see the next big increase in oil and condensates production, following North Dakota and Texas, as innovative drilling companies move in to explore the liquids-rich sections of the Woodford shale under the western half of the state.

Oklahoma is a very old oil producer: the first oil was discovered in 1897, a decade before Oklahoma was admitted to the union.

In recent decades, however, the state's conventional fields have appeared exhausted. Production peaked as long ago as 1927 at 277 million barrels for the year. By 1980, output had fallen to 149 million barrels, sinking to just 58 million barrels in 2010, according to annual production records from the Oklahoma Commerce Commission (OCC).

In 2011, production jumped to 77 million barrels. But Oklahoma still accounted for just 3.8 percent of all oil produced in the United States. Production has been broadly flat at 175,000-200,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the start of the century. Meanwhile, fracking has lifted North Dakota's output from less than 100,000 bpd to more than 700,000 bpd over the same period.

Oklahoma has more than 32,000 oil wells. However, more than 30,000 of them are "stripper" wells producing less than 15 bpd that are marginally economic. Only 163 wells produced more than 100 barrels per day in 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the independent statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The state is better known as a natural gas producer. Oklahoma accounted for 8 percent of all U.S. gas output last year, ranking behind Texas and Louisiana. In fact, the state's 52,000 gas wells accounted for almost 30 percent of all the crude and condensate produced in the state in 2009.

But all that may be about to change.


WORLD-CLASS WOODFORD

The western half of Oklahoma lies on top of the Anadarko Basin, a huge sedimentary formation that has already yielded most of Oklahoma's conventional oil and gas.

Now attention is turning to the possibility of unlocking the basin's unconventional resources using the same horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques that have prized millions of barrels of oil and condensates from North Dakota's Bakken and Texas' Eagle Ford.

Specifically, drillers and frackers are now targeting the basin's Woodford shale layer. The Woodford shale is "one of the thickest, best quality resource shale reservoirs in the country," according to Continental Resources, the company which more than any other is associated with the development of the Bakken.

Woodford is up to 400 feet thick, according to Continental, with a rich organic content and which potentially contains enormous amounts of oil and gas in continuous-type unconventional formations.

In terms of area, Woodford (3,300 square miles) is smaller than either the Bakken (13,000 square miles) or Eagle Ford in Texas (5,000 square miles). But it is also much thicker (150-400 feet) than either Bakken (10-250 feet) or Eagle Ford (100-250 feet). The total organic content (6-12 percent) puts it somewhere between Bakken (5-20 percent) and Eagle Ford (3-7 percent).

Woodford contains 400 million barrels of oil that could be recovered, accorded to an estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey published in 2010, and another 250 million barrels of valuable condensates, as well as plenty of associated gas. Continental is even more bullish about potential ultimate recoveries.


FOCUSING ON THE SCOOP

Continental has featured the most prospective area of the Woodford shale, a section that it calls the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province, SCOOP, as one of its two favoured plays alongside the Bakken in recent presentations to investors, underlining its importance to the company.

Continental has been leasing oil and gas rights in the Woodford even faster than in the Bakken to exploit it. Between 2009 and October 2012, Continental increased its net acreage in the Anadarko-Woodford area by 113 percent from 149,000 to 316,000 acres, compared with a 51 percent rise in net Bakken acres from 645,000 to 915,000.

Because of the divergence between oil and gas prices, the company has focused on the oil-rich and condensate-rich parts of the shale ("fairways") in the east, which lie under Grady, McClain, Garvin, Stephens and Carter counties, rather than the gas-rich areas further to the west.

Continental claims wells in the oil fairway have yielded as much as 75-85 percent liquids (crude plus condensate) while liquids yields from the condensate fairway have been about 60 percent.

It has drilled or participated in 35 wells to date and plans to bring the same efficiencies that it pioneered in the Bakken, cutting drilling and fracking times and costs, to the new play.


THE SILENT REVOLUTION

The Woodford play remains in its infancy. The full scale of exploration and development work has been obscured because the state also produces significant amounts of conventional oil and gas. Both have been under pressure because of the plunge in gas prices to less than $4 per million British thermal units and the slide in prices for midcontinent U.S. oil.

Oklahoma oil prices are directly tied to the price of benchmark crudes delivered in-state at Cushing. Average Oklahoma oil prices fell from $102 in March to less than $75 in June, according to the Corporations Commission. The result has been a slowdown in conventional production from stripper wells, which has masked the increase in fracking.

Similarly, the number of drilling rigs active in the state, has remained at around 200, which is roughly similar to the number drilling back in 2008, at the height of the oil and gas boom. But that masks a huge shift from gas-directed to oil-directed drilling. In 2008, some 1,098 oil wells and 2,201 gas wells were completed. By 2011, the numbers were 1,573 and 876.

Other gas producing states, like Louisiana, have seen a sharp drop in the number of active rigs since 2008 as the gas industry responds to a sharp decline in prices. In Oklahoma, however, rigs have simply been shifted from gas to oil plays within the state, which has to some extent hidden the extent of the state's new oil revolution.

More rigs are now drilling in Oklahoma than in any other state apart from Texas. Only North Dakota is even close.

Continental Resources admits that it has kept the full potential of the play relatively quiet until recently while it has secured mineral leases. The company only began to discuss the full potential of the SCOOP/Woodford in its marketing materials in October.

The SCOOP/Woodford formation is even deeper underground than the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales, so wells will be expensive. But the high liquids content should ensure they have high rates of return.

Crucially the shale play is located in many of the same counties that have previously hosted conventional oil fields. The state already has plenty of oil and gas-gathering pipelines and infrastructure to support a fairly rapid increase in output. And the state government is enthusiastic about oil development.

Oklahoma's oil and gas business -- an increasingly complex mix of oil and gas, conventional and unconventional resources -- makes production and drilling statistics hard to interpret.

While the Woodford shale should boost oil drilling and output, the marginal nature of many stripper wells makes conventional output susceptible to any drop in oil prices, and oil output from gas wells will remain under pressure from low natural gas prices.

Nonetheless, the attractive characteristics of the Woodford shale should result in a significant expansion of oil output in the next five years as the play is developed.

[ou48A]

There is growing chatter about a possibility of a CLR buy out of KOG.

My gut feeling is that Hamm and CLR would know the value of KOG more than anyone else!

[HangryHippo]

As in Kodiak Oil and Gas?

[Pete]

Kodiak is currently in Denver and only has a small number of employees, as in less than 10 at their HQ.

Still, acquiring their assets would certainly help CLR continue to grow.

[ou48A]

KOG has a current market cap of 2.51Billion
CLR’s current market cap is 14.86 Billion.

KOG has excellent Bakken acreage positions that have been getting generally great results in spite of the fact that they have been mostly drilling to hold their acreage positions and not drilling many of their so called sweat spots.
According to some this makes KOG a likely take over target. If CLR doesn’t buy KOG, sooner or later someone will. They have significant future value to whoever buys them IMHO. Since I own KOG I am hoping for an old fashion bidding war but that would probably be asking way too much. LOL

[ou48A]

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1100...s?source=yahoo

Determining A Reasonable Takeover Price For Kodiak Oil And Gas


On Monday shares of Bakken oil producer Kodiak Oil and Gas (KOG) surged late in the day on some unusually heavy volume.

The reason for the surge apparently is that the company cancelled an appearance from an upcoming conference suggesting that it may be taken out before the conference date.

With shares at $9.40 I thought I'd have a look at what investors may be able to expect for a takeover price. The best comparable metric is the takeover of Bakken pure-player Brigham Exploration which occurred just over a year ago when it was acquired by Statoil (STO).

So let's compare.

Statoil paid $36.50 per share for Brigham Exploration. That equates to an enterprise value of $4.7 billion.
Kodiak has an enterprise value as follows:
Shares outstanding -- 263 million
• Most recent closing stock price -- $9.40
• Market Capitalization -- $2.472 billion
Total debt outstanding -- $915 million
• Enterprise Value -- $3.387 billion
Price Per Flowing Barrel
• Brigham Exploration was producing 21,000 boe/day. With a $4.7 billion enterprise valuation that equates to $223,000 per flowing barrel.
• Kodiak's exit rate production figure is expected to be 27,000 boe/day. If Kodiak gets taken out at the same price per flowing barrel as Brigham that would be a share price of:
• Calculate total price paid - $223,000 x 27,000 = $6 billion
• Less Debt Outstanding - $915 million
• Equals Proceeds For Shareholders - Roughly $5 billion
• Divided By The Number of Shares Outstanding - 263 million
• Price Per Share - $19.01


Multiple of EBITA
For the six months ended June 30, 2011 prior to its acquisition Brigham had an EBITA of $137 million. On an annual basis that would be roughly $280 million. That would be an EBITA multiple of $4.7 billion / $280 million = 16.79 times
For the nine months ending Sep 30, 2012 Kodiak had EBITA of $220 million which annualized would be about $300 million. At Brigham's 16.79 takeover multiple Kodiak would be taken out at roughly $5 billion ($300 million x 16.79), which again is $19.01 per share.

Multiple of Proved Reserves
Brigham (as of the December 2010 reserve report) has 67 million barrels of proved reserves. A $4.7 billion valuation suggests Statoil is paying $4.7 billion / 67 million = $70 per barrel of proved reserves
Kodiak (as of the June 2012 reserve report) has 70 million barrels of proved reserves. At Brigham's $70 per barrel multiple of proved reserves Kodiak would be taken out at….you guessed it roughly $5 billion ($70 per barrel x 70 million barrels.
Again, this is $19 per share.


Other Considerations
The Brigham deal multiples clearly point to about $19 per share for Kodiak. There are of course other considerations such as the amount of acreage each company has, the quality of that acreage, and ability to finance future development.
Because of that I don't think Kodiak would go for the same multiples as Brigham, but I think the mid-point between the current share price ($9.40) and the Brigham price ($19.00) might be realistic. That would be $13 to $14 per share which is still a good premium to the current share price.

Now I guess we just wait and see if the takeover chatter amounts to something.

[blangtang]

Where are you hearing its CLR? I poked around and only saw Exxon Mobil as the company mentioned.

[ou48A]

Where are you hearing its CLR? I poked around and only saw Exxon Mobil as the company mentioned.

It’s just chatter at this point, not close to be set in stone…. but it’s being talk about on the KOG Yahoo message board. KOG closed down .04 after being up most of the day. Could be a case of manipulation.

XOM has been talked about as another rumored buyer of KOG for several months.

[ou48A]

Very good report for CLR

Continental Resources Increases Proved Reserves 54 Percent To 785 MMBoe - Yahoo! Finance

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Continental Resources, Inc. (CLR) increased its year-end 2012 proved reserves to 785 MMBoe (million barrels of oil equivalent), a year-over-year gain of 54 percent. With the 2012 increase, Continental has grown proved reserves at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent since year-end 2009.
Continental's 2012 proved reserves had a net present value discounted at 10 percent (PV-10) of $13.3 billion, a 45 percent increase over the PV-10 of $9.2 billion for proved reserves at year-end 2011.

Proved reserves growth in 2012 primarily reflected strong production growth in the Bakken play of North Dakota and Montana, which Continental believes is the nation's premier oil play. Continental is the largest producer and leaseholder in the Bakken, with approximately 1.1 million net acres. The Company has also accelerated production growth in its South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP), an oil- and liquids-rich play in Oklahoma.

Thirty-nine percent of Continental's total 2012 proved reserves, or 309.0 MMBoe, were proved developed producing (PDP), compared with 40 percent of year-end 2011 proved reserves.

Crude oil reserves represented 72 percent of 2012 total proved reserves, a significant increase over year-end 2011, when crude oil accounted for 64 percent of the Company's 508 MMBoe in proved reserves. The higher percentage of crude oil proved reserves in 2012 was accomplished despite two crude-oil concentrated divestitures.

Continental currently operates 85 percent of its total proved reserves, compared with 86 percent at year-end 2011.

"We continue to increase our concentration in high-value, high-growth, crude oil assets, especially in the Bakken," said Harold Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We are growing the value of our Bakken assets through strategic acquisitions, exploration, and the expanded use of pad drilling, which should improve efficiencies and translate into even better rates of return."

Through acquisitions and leasing, Continental increased its Bakken leasehold by 24 percent in the past year, from 915,863 net acres at year-end 2011 to 1,139,799 net acres at year-end 2012.

The Company is also leveraging the increased demand for high-quality Bakken crude oil at U.S. refineries. "We have more than adequate pipe and rail capacity out of the basin at this time, so we can move our production to the most advantageous markets," Mr. Hamm said. "Realizing the Bakken's full potential is essential to our five-year plan to triple production and proved reserves by year-end 2017, while increasing operating margins."

Strong Production Growth
Continental's 2012 production totaled 35.7 MMBoe, a 58 percent increase over production of 22.6 MMBoe for 2011, in line with the Company's production growth guidance for 2012.

Estimated fourth quarter 2012 production was 9.8 MMBoe, or 106,831 Boe per day, a 42 percent increase over fourth quarter production for 2011. The Company deferred some fourth quarter well completions to stay within its capital expenditure budget for 2012. Fourth quarter 2012 was the 19th consecutive quarter in which Continental has increased production compared with the immediately previous quarter.

Based on continued production growth, as well as an acquisition and a divestiture announced December 20, 2012, Continental's current production is approximately 116,000 Boepd.

Increased Proved Reserves
Continental's 2012 proved reserves in the Bakken totaled 564 MMBoe, almost double proved reserves in the play at year-end 2011. The Company's Bakken proved reserves had a PV-10 of $9.9 billion at year-end 2012.

Other significant components of year-end 2012 proved reserves included the SCOOP play in Oklahoma, with proved reserves of 63 MMBoe (PV-10 of $955 million) and the Red River Units, where proved reserves increased in the past year to 78 MMBoe (PV-10 of $2.0 billion).

Exploration and development activity was the primary driver in the Company's 2012 proved reserves growth, adding 234 MMBoe of proved reserves in the year, of which 27 percent were PDP and the remainder PUDs (proved undeveloped reserves). In total, a reconciliation of 2012 proved reserves included:

[ou48A]

South Central Oklahoma Oil Province aka ?SCOOP? | Woodford

[Dubya61]

Couple of mentions of Continental Resources in this http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/ma...1&ref=business NY Times article about the boom in drilling in North Dakota's Bakken Formation.

In the fall of 2011*in Crosby, N.D., Continental Resources, the oil company with the most acreage leased in the basin, erected a self-congratulatory granite monument celebrating its work in the so-called Bakken Formation, the Williston Basin rocks that, as Continental put it, ushered in “a new era in the American oil industry.” The number of rigs drilling new wells in North Dakota’s part of the basin reached a record 218 last May. It has now leveled off at around 200, as thousands of wells have been completed under deadline pressure to secure expiring mineral leases. Many thousands more will be spudded in the next two years as the boom moves from discovery to production and crews drill “infill” wells, complete pipelines, fortify roads, enlarge refineries and build natural-gas pumping stations and oil-loading train yards.

But oil development, and fracking in particular, raises little of the hue and cry it does in Eastern states sitting above the natural gas in the Marcellus shale. Even a well-publicized investigation by the news Web site ProPublica that reported that there were more than “1,000 accidental releases of oil, drilling wastewater and other fluids” in North Dakota in 2011 passed without much fuss.
A more typical attitude is represented by Harold Hamm, chief executive of Continental Resources. “Why do [critics] always start talking about the challenges?” Hamm said in a speech he gave at Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck in May. “What challenges? Spending all the money?” Hamm, who is known as the Baron of the Bakken by virtue of having more than a million acres leased for drilling, led Mitt Romney’s energy committee, which proposed giving states control of oil leases on federal lands.

[fromdust]

The SCOOP, can't wait for the chance to frac it. I need some change in scenery. The Anadarko is soooo boring now, lol

[ou48A]

Nice read on CLR
Are You Looking for Production and Reserve Growth? (CLR, KOG)

[ou48A]

This is very good news for this OKC based Co.


Bakken Producers Continental Resources And Whiting Petroleum Beat Q4 Expectations - Seeking Alpha

Bakken oil and gas producers Continental Resources (CLR) and Whiting Petroleum (WLL) announced Q4 and full-year 2012 earnings after the close on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2012. Both companies breezed past Street estimates. Highlighting WLL's results was its assertion that it is the No.1 oil producer in North Dakota.

CLR's Q4 earnings were $1.19 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $0.62 share for the prior-year quarter. This handily beat the average Thomson Reuters estimate of $0.87/share.

Q4 revenue came in at $688.9 million and also beat expectations of $656.8 million.
Continental continued its run of outstanding production growth with Q4 production coming in at 106,831 boe/d -- a 42% increase from fourth-quarter 2011 production. Even better, CLR announced total production in February 2013 is on track to exceed 120,000 Boepd.

Significant new well results included:
Latest Bakken/Three Forks Second Bench well flows at 1,556 boe/d
New SCOOP well flows at 1,761 boe/d

Rail Having a Significant Impact on Realized Prices
Chairman and CEO Harold Hamm commented on the results:
We completed 2012 with an excellent fourth quarter, and growth momentum continues in 2013. Production has increased, and realized oil prices have been strong as we market an increased share of our Bakken production to U.S. coastal markets. We've seen a fundamental change in oil markets with the significant increase in rail transportation capacity out of the Bakken. Improved differentials and lower operated well costs as we continue to drill and complete projects more efficiently point to continued strong cash flow in 2013.
Improved Oil Differentials: A Positive Catalyst Going Forward

CLR's oil differential was $3.21 per barrel for the fourth quarter 2012, a decrease of $6.24 from the third quarter of 2012. As a result of improved realized prices, Continental has reduced its 2013 NYMEX oil differential guidance range to $5 to $7 per barrel, compared with previous guidance of $8 to $11.

The narrowing of the differential makes a huge difference for CLR going forward. For example: If February production comes in at 120,000 boe/d, and the differential between Q4 was $3/barrel less than Q3, that is an extra $360,000/day of increased revenue, or $32.4 million on a quarterly basis. I would assume most of that would go straight to the bottom line.

These results capped of an excellent 2012 for CLR. For the full year, net diluted earnings per share were $4.07 -- up 69% over the $2.41 for FY 2011.

[Pete]

Really curious to hear what their current employee count. Q3 of last year they were already up to 721.

Where did you get that number?

As per the Q4 report to the OKC Economic Development Trust, they had 400 employees.

Perhaps your number is for all of CLR and not just the ones downtown?

[ou48A]

Not to be discounted is the fact that companies like CLR typically have contractors working for them that employ hundreds of contract workers who supply CLR with goods and services. Well managed companies usually stay as lean as possible and often use contract workers who are employed by 3 party firms. These workers can be easily let go in the event of a downturn. Liabilities are also reduced.

[ou48A]

More on CLR from yesterday's conference call....

Conntinential Resources CC yesterday has revealed some very interesting & exciting information :

* CLR believes that Bakken light sweet crude is going to set a "new benchmark" for light sweet crude & will soon trade at a premium compared to Brent crude.

* Bakken crude is the most ultra-low sulfur crude in the world & will be in big demand for refineries because it will help refineries stay in compliance with the EPA...and also in big demand as it easily refines to high demand fuel such as jet fuel & gasoline. Bakken light sweet came to market early enough so that most refineries didnt have to spend large amounts of money to change over to heavy crude refining..so they will demand bakken crude.

* CLR has discovered that the entire Bakken Petroleum System (all 5 pay zones) are all in the same pressure environment. A recent lower 3-forks bench well they brought on line had pressure of 3200 psi. So CLR believes that this is all one cell with similar pressure..hence, all strong oil recovery.

* CLR says that @ 3.5% Bakken recovery, the system has 24 billion barrels to harvest. At 5% Bakken recovery, the system has 45 billion barrels to harvest, which they think is very achievable.

* CLR says that the area where the 3-forks formation is the thickest & may produce commercially from all 4 zones is 60 miles wide from east to west & 75 miles long from north to south.

* CLR's latest well from the 3rd bench 3~forks formation is on track to produce as much oil as their recent successful 2nd bench well.They have 7 lower bench 3~forks wells waiting on completion as we post & plan to drill 20 lower bench 3~forks wells in 2013. CLR said we should hear about results from the first well drilled in the 4th bench of the 3~forks formation in about 1 month.

[ou48A]

CLR and others have plans to drill some Bakken wells on tighter spacing. If this goes as hoped it would be huge news for these companies and for our nation’s energy future on a scale that few would have thought possible just a few short years ago.

Bakken: The Downspacing Bounty And Birth Of 'Array Fracking' - Seeking Alpha

[s00nr1]

CLR just hit an all-time high and now has a market cap of more than Chesapeake and Sandridge combined. Astounding growth.

[Pete]

CLR just hit an all-time high and now has a market cap of more than Chesapeake and Sandridge combined. Astounding growth.

Wowee.

They seem to really have their act together.

And if you notice, Harold Hamm is now the richest person in Oklahoma while Aubrey is no longer on the billionaire list and Tom Ward has never made it.

[icecold]

Wowee.

They seem to really have their act together.

And if you notice, Harold Hamm is now the richest person in Oklahoma while Aubrey is no longer on the billionaire list and Tom Ward has never made it.

Not true. Tom Ward has made the list a handful of times. I believe this was his high mark....

The 400 Richest Americans: #155 Tom Ward - Forbes.com

[Pete]

Thanks for the correction.

But the point being, neither he or Aubrey are on it now and their personal fortunes seem to be managed in the same way in which they've run their businesses.


Anyway, Harold Hamm seems to be a much more astute businessman and the results at CLR show that.