Hess in the Bakken -- Earnings Transcipt -- North Dakota, USA

Some data points:

• Hess with 900,000 acres in the ND Bakken
• Production: 20,000 bopd at end of 2010
• Production: 40,000 bopd average for 2011
• Dual-lateral wells cost $11 - $11.5 million
• Single-lateral wells cost $7 - $7.5 million
• EURs: ~ 500,000 bbls per lateral (thus a dual-lateral well with a EUR of 1 million barrels)
• IPs: 30-day average, 18-stage wells -- 400 - 500 bbls per lateral
• Recently revised their completion design state to 22 stages; IPs will go up
• 18 rigs in the Bakken (due to acqusitions; limited discussion)
• Four dedicated frack crews; will add another frack crew in last half of the year
• Both the American (AEZ) and the Tracker (TRZ) acreage were prospective for Three Forks
• Hess added 274 million bbls of reserves: 160 million in Norway, 70 million in ND -- those were the "two big hitters; also another 30 million bbls in Russia
• A shift from dual-laterals to single-laterals in an effort to "hold-by-production" acreage; will occur over the next two years; planning to meet their target by 2012
• Guidance: 40,000 bbls/day in 2011 in the Bakken, but unable to say what exit rate will be -- still digesting acquisitions