=Whiting Petroleum (WLL) reported earnings on Tue 21 Feb 2017 (a/h)

Whiting Petroleum beats by $0.04, misses on revs:

• Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $0.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of ($0.32); revenues fell 18.0% year/year to $342.7 mln vs the $353.7 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Co's production in Q4 2016 totaled 10.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (:MMBOE), comprised of 84% crude oil/natural gas liquids (NGLs)
  • Fourth quarter 2016 production averaged 118,890 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d), above the high end of guidance (117,390 BOE/d) and an increase from the third quarter when adjusted for asset sales.(1) Enhanced completions contributed to production exceeding guidance and to lease operating expense (:LOE) per BOE coming in at the low end of guidance
  • LOE also benefited from the sale of higher cost properties and continued efficiency gains in the field.
• Co issues Q1 production forecast at 10.2-10.6 MMBOE and also issues 2017 production guidance at 45.0-46.0 MMBOE
  • Whiting projects a 2017 capital budget of $1.1 billion. The Company plans to invest $1,060 million of the 2017 capital budget on development activity in its core Williston Basin and DJ Basin areas, which represents 96% of the total budget
  • It plans to run five rigs and spend $580 million on development activities in the Williston Basin where it targets the Bakken/Three Forks formations and run one rig and spend $420 million on development activities in the DJ Basin where it targets the Niobrara "A", "B" and "C" zones and the Codell/Fort Hays formations
  • The DJ Basin activities include the planned completion of 105 drilled uncompleted (DUC) wells. In addition, $60 million has been budgeted for non-operated drilling located primarily in the Williston Basin.