Whiting Petroleum Corporation Announces $500 Million Sale of Fort Berthold Area Assets in North Dakota

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Whiting Petroleum Corporation (the “Company”) (NYSE:WLL) has an
agreement to sell its Fort Berthold Indian Reservation area assets
located in Dunn and McLean Counties, North Dakota to RimRock Oil & Gas
Williston, LLC. The cash purchase price is $500 million, subject to
customary adjustments. Whiting will use the net proceeds from the sale
to repay $500 million of its current $550 million bank debt. The
effective and closing date of the sale is September 1, 2017.

James J. Volker, Whiting’s Chairman, President and CEO, commented, “The
price received for these properties, which are largely non-operated,
highlights the quality of Whiting’s Bakken/Three Forks assets. The Fort
Berthold properties represent only approximately 7% of Whiting’s second
quarter total production. The sale provides Whiting additional liquidity
to develop its industry-leading properties across the Williston Basin,
where the Company estimates it has 4,850 future gross drilling
locations.”

The properties span 29,637 net acres, 29 non-operated drilling spacing
units and 17 operated. Net daily production from the properties averaged
7,785 BOE/d in the second quarter of 2017. Lease operating expense (LOE)
for the properties averaged approximately $12.60 per BOE for the 12
months ending June 30, 2017. Whiting’s other operated Bakken production
averaged $7.50 per BOE.

About Whiting Petroleum Corporation

Whiting Petroleum Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is an independent
oil and gas company that explores for, develops, acquires and produces
crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids primarily in the Rocky
Mountain region of the United States. The Company’s largest projects are
in the Bakken and Three Forks plays in North Dakota and Niobrara play in
northeast Colorado. The Company trades publicly under the symbol WLL on
the New York Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit http://www.whiting.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that we believe to be
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. All statements other than historical facts, including, without
limitation, statements regarding our future financial position, business
strategy, projected revenues, earnings, costs, capital expenditures and
debt levels, and plans and objectives of management for future
operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this news
release, words such as we “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,”
“anticipate,” “believe” or “should” or the negative thereof or
variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to
identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such
statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the
satisfaction of the conditions to the sale of the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation area assets and other risks related to the completion of the
sale of such assets and actions related thereto; the ability of Whiting
and RimRock Oil & Gas Williston, LLC to complete the sale of the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation area assets on anticipated terms and
schedule; declines in, or extended periods of low oil, NGL or natural
gas prices; our level of success in exploration, development and
production activities; risks related to our level of indebtedness,
ability to comply with debt covenants and periodic redeterminations of
the borrowing base under our credit agreement; impacts to financial
statements as a result of impairment write-downs; our ability to
successfully complete asset dispositions and the risks related thereto;
revisions to reserve estimates as a result of changes in commodity
prices, regulation and other factors; adverse weather conditions that
may negatively impact development or production activities; the timing
of our exploration and development expenditures; inaccuracies of our
reserve estimates or our assumptions underlying them; risks relating to
any unforeseen liabilities of ours; our ability to generate sufficient
cash flows from operations to meet the internally funded portion of our
capital expenditures budget; our ability to obtain external capital to
finance exploration and development operations; federal and state
initiatives relating to the regulation of hydraulic fracturing and air
emissions; unforeseen underperformance of or liabilities associated with
acquired properties; the impacts of hedging on our results of
operations; failure of our properties to yield oil or gas in
commercially viable quantities; availability of, and risks associated
with, transport of oil and gas; our ability to drill producing wells on
undeveloped acreage prior to its lease expiration; shortages of or
delays in obtaining qualified personnel or equipment, including drilling
rigs and completion services; uninsured or underinsured losses resulting
from our oil and gas operations; our inability to access oil and gas
markets due to market conditions or operational impediments; the impact
and costs of compliance with laws and regulations governing our oil and
gas operations; the potential impact of changes in laws, including tax
reform, that could have a negative effect on the oil and gas industry;
our ability to replace our oil and natural gas reserves; any loss of our
senior management or technical personnel; competition in the oil and gas
industry; cyber security attacks or failures of our telecommunication
systems; and other risks described under the caption “Risk Factors” in
Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December
31, 2016. We assume no obligation, and disclaim any duty, to update the
forward-looking statements in this news release.

Contacts

Whiting Petroleum Corporation
Eric K. Hagen, 303-837-1661
Vice
President, Investor Relations
[email protected]