Whiting Petroleum's CEO Discusses Q1 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Please note that forward-looking statements disclaimer and discussion of non-GAAP measures on Slide #1. Please take note that our Form 10-Q for the 3 months ended March 31, 2012, is expected to be filed tomorrow. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures we refer to and the applicable GAAP measures can be found in our earnings release and in our webcast slides.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim Volker.

James J. Volker

Thanks, Eric. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining. Whiting is off to a great start this year, with first quarter production of 14% over the fourth quarter of 2011, which topped the high end of the guidance. Also, we were able to raise our full year production guidance despite the conveyance of 4,500 BOEs per day for the Whiting USA Trust II. We now project 17% to 22% growth over 2011 versus our prior forecast of 14% to 20%. In other words, due to our strong drilling results, we should more than replace the Trust volumes we sold in the first quarter. Also, we announced several notable exploration wells at our DJ Basin Niobrara and Permian Basin Wolfcamp plays and we're expanding our activity in those areas.

Now let's move to the slide. Slide #2 summarizes the current key statistics for Whiting. Please note the decline in long-term debt. The debt-to-total capital is now down to 28.5%. And also, please note the increase of production to 80,700 BOEs per day.

Slide #3 is a breakdown of our production by region. First quarter production having averaged to be exact 80,747 BOEs per day or, again, a 14% increase versus the fourth quarter of 2011.

Slide #4 breaks down our proved reserves, which totaled 345 million BOEs, 86% of our reserves are oil and only 31% are proved undeveloped.

Slide #5 provides a breakdown of our proved reserves by region, and the associated PV10 value at SEC 2011 pricing. As you can see, our total proved PV10 value is $7.4 billion.

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