Whiting Petroleum Corporation Enters into Sales Agreements for North Dakota Midstream Assets
Whiting Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: WLL) today announced that it
has entered into purchase and sale agreements to sell its 50 percent
interest in its Robinson Lake natural gas processing plant and
associated natural gas gathering system located in Mountrail County,
North Dakota and its 50 percent interest in its Belfield natural gas
processing plant and associated natural gas, crude oil and water
gathering systems located in Stark, Billings and Dunn Counties, North
Dakota. From April through September 2016, these plants had average
daily throughput of 132 MMcf per day.
An affiliate of Tesoro Logistics Rockies, LLC, has agreed to purchase
the assets for $700 million, pending regulatory approval. Whiting’s
share of the sale price would be approximately $375 million. The
transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
James J. Volker, Whiting's Chairman, President and CEO, commented, "We
expect this sale to further strengthen our balance sheet and provide us
with additional financial flexibility to invest for growth in Whiting’s
top tier producing assets in the Williston and DJ Basins. This sale
aligns with our ongoing strategy to divest non-core midstream assets and
focus capital in the company’s highly productive upstream business."
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: 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;
the potential impact of federal debt reduction initiatives and tax
reform legislation being considered by the U.S. Federal Government that
could have a negative effect on the oil and gas industry; 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; 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 described under the caption “Risk
Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended
September 30, 2016 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended
December 31, 2015. We assume no obligation, and disclaim any duty, to
update the forward-looking statements in this news release.
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