CLR's 2014 Operating And Financial Guidance; Share Price Spikes; New High; Solidly Over $100/Share

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Investors must have liked this guidance. CLR spiked $4 / 4% in after-hours trading, hitting a new, going over $100 for the first time and solidly above $100. I.N.C.R.E.D.I.B.L.E. 

Press release:

Continental Resources, Inc. expects to increase total crude oil and natural gas production in a range of 26% to 32% in 2014, based on non-acquisition capital expenditures of $4.05 billion.  Continental expects average daily production in 2014 will be in a range of 170,000 to 180,000 barrels of oil equivalent (Boe) per day, with an exit rate for December 2014 of approximately 200,000 Boe per day.

Total production for 2014 is expected to be 70% crude oil, in line with the Company's mid-year 2013 results and the long-term commitment to tight oil resource plays.
Benefiting from recent reductions in well costs, Continental's 2014 budget reflects 400 net well completions (1,090 gross), with 94% located in the Company's two key operating areas, the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana and the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province (SCOOP). The 2014 well count represents a 22% increase over current budgeted completions of 329 net wells in total for 2013.

Continuing:

"Achieving our 2014 goals will be an excellent 'Year 2' in our five-year plan to triple production and proved reserves," said Harold G. Hamm, Continental Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We remain focused on our industry leadership in oil production growth, low well costs, and capital efficiency. We're on track to achieve our five-year growth plan while funding an increasing percentage of capital expenditures with internally generated cash flow."

Exploration drilling accounts for approximately $500 million of 2014 capital expenditures, a 16% increase over 2013's exploratory drilling budget. Exploration activity will focus primarily on continued density drilling tests in the Bakken, further testing of the lower Three Forks formation in the Bakken, and further appraisal and a density spacing test in SCOOP.