Whiting's 1Q14 Earnings; Coiled Tubing Fracking Will Increase Operations Tempo; Might Increase IPs By 70%

Now that CLR has posted 1Q14 earnings and the market has responded, I was curious to see what Whiting was doing. Wow, I must have missed this. Whiting already posted 1Q14 earnings, and I didn't see them. Or if I did, I forgot. So, either the first time, or the second time, here's Whiting.

Whiting's 1Q14 profit jumps 27% -- Reuters.

Earnings transcript -- SeekingAlpha.

Target for WLL raised to $95 from $80 -- Yahoo!News. -- Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on what you read here or what you think you may have read here.

Whiting Petroleum divestiture might send stock higher -- Bloomberg. 

Billionaire hedge-fund investor John Paulson said Whiting Petroleum Corp. shares may rise if the oil and natural gas company sells non-core assets.

Last year, Whiting sold the Postle field for $810 million and acreage in Texas for $152 million, Paulson wrote. A streamlined Whiting “should command a higher multiple and result in a higher stock price,” the firm said. Whiting shares have risen 15 percent this year to $71.40. 

Highlights from the earnings conference call:

• major player in two of the hottest US oil plays in the last 40 years: the Bakken and the Niobrara
• discretionary cash flow: almost $500 million, up 20% over 1Q13
• the Bakken production: 73K boepd, up almost 30% over 1Q13
• successfully tested "new coiled tubing conveyed frack technology at Missouri Breaks (the Bakken)"
• new frack technology: IPs 70% better than with the sliding sleeve method; 40% better than the cemented liner method; completion costs are comparable
• the Bakken represents almost 75% of total Whiting production
• the Bakken: 685,000 net acres
• Hidden Bench: the last 15 cemented liner completions: average rate of over 2,600 boepd
• with a 40-stage frack, a total of 120 entry points (with uncemented, only 30 entry points)
•  increased density plans: 9 wells/drilling unit in the middle Bakken vs origianl Sanish develpment plan of 3 to 4 wells per 1280-acre units
• Hidden Bench: a drilling program of 8 wells/drilling unit vs original plan of only 4 wells
• financials: strong fixed-price gas contracts net $5 /Mcf
• lots of discussion on coiled tube fracking; at Redtail will try a 80-stage frack; the earlier one was 60 stages
• completed two Sanish wells with coiled tube fracking
• analysts note that they have not heard of coiled tube fracking before; wondered if others were using it;not answered
• spacing in the Pronghorn; currently 3 wells per unit; could go to 2 more in between exisitng wells, or a third well, called the lease line well (LLW): 6 wells/drilling unit for much of the field
•   Missouri Breaks: comfortable with 4 wells/unit for now
• the Sanish had the highest OIOP of any part of the entire Williston Basin; drilling density there is 3 wells/spacing unit; operators elsewhere are drilling at twice that density, so a lot of potential for Whiting in the Sanish
• EURs? a bit vague; sounds like WLL has increased EURs to about where CLR has been for quite some time; "on the low end, being pushed from 400,000 closer to 600,000."
• more on coiled tube fracking: adds about $700,000/well; costs may come down; faster cycle times; don't have to clean the well after the frack; can put the well immediately into production
• coiled tube fracking: will result in higher operational tempo
• lots of talk on the Bakken, what about Three Forks? the Central Basin, the Tarpon project, the best-looing Three Forks they've seen, based on core samples
• a good charge all the way down through the third bench
• still lots of unknowns about the Three Forks; locations, benches
• Tarpon: drill into the 3rd bench but everywhere else, probably only to the 2nd bench
• more about the coiled tube fracking process at the link