Whiting Petroleum Corporation Announces Completion of North Dakota Bakken Well Flowing 2,530 BOE/D

DENVER, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Whiting Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: WLL) today announced that on January 24, 2008 it completed the Liffrig 11-27H well flowing at a daily rate of 2,247 barrels of oil and 1.7 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas or 2,530 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) during a 24-hour test of the Middle Bakken formation at a vertical depth of approximately 9,920 feet. The well was drilled on the Company's Robinson Lake prospect, which has been designated the Sanish field, in Mountrail County, North Dakota.

Production from the Liffrig well was gauged on a 17/64-inch choke with a flowing casing pressure of 1,300 psi. The single lateral well, which was drilled on a 1,280-acre spacing unit, penetrated 7,720 feet of horizontal pay in the Middle Bakken. Whiting holds an 81% working interest and a 67% net revenue interest in the well and is the operator.

On December 16, 2007, Whiting completed the Locken 11-22H well, located in the two sections immediately north of the Liffrig 11-27H, flowing at an initial rate 1,323 barrels of oil and 2.0 MMcf of gas during a 24-hour test of the Bakken formation at a vertical depth of approximately 9,920 feet. During the first 30 days of production, this well averaged 818 barrels of oil and 828 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of gas per day. Drilled on a 1,280-acre spacing unit, this single lateral well penetrated 7,625 feet of horizontal pay. Whiting owns a 99% working interest and an 82% net revenue interest in the well and is the operator.

The oil produced from the Sanish field is high quality sweet crude (41 - 42 API gravity) that sells at or near West Texas Intermediate posted price levels. These prices typically range from $3.50 to $6.50 below NYMEX prices.

The gas produced from the Sanish field contains large amounts of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and has a Btu content of approximately 1,700 Btu per cubic foot. In December 2007, Whiting broke ground for the construction of a natural gas processing plant that will strip out these liquids and allow the natural gas to be transported by pipeline to market. The Company anticipates that the plant will be on stream in April 2008. The initial capacity of the plant will be 3 MMcf of gas per day and is expected to increase to 18 MMcf -- 33 MMcf of gas per day in the fourth quarter of 2008. The yield from the plant is expected to approximate 150 - 170 barrels of NGLs per 1 MMcf of gas.

James J. Volker, Whiting's President and CEO, commented, "We are extremely pleased with our initial results in the Sanish field and plan to drill approximately 30 wells, with at least an average 80% working interest, there in 2008. We currently have three rigs working in this area and are moving in a fourth rig that will spud a new single-lateral well later this week. We expect to have results on two more wells by March 31. In addition, in 2008 we expect to participate in approximately 40 wells in the Parshall field with an approximate 20% working interest."

About Whiting Petroleum Corporation

Whiting Petroleum Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is an independent oil and gas company that acquires, exploits, develops and explores for crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids primarily in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast and Michigan regions of the United States. 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 the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 oil or gas prices; our level of success in exploitation, exploration, development and production activities; adverse weather conditions that may negatively impact development or production activities; the timing of our exploration and development expenditures, including our ability to obtain drilling rigs; our ability to obtain external capital to finance acquisitions; our ability to identify and complete acquisitions and to successfully integrate acquired businesses, including our ability to realize cost savings from completed acquisitions; unforeseen underperformance of or liabilities associated with acquired properties; our ability to successfully complete our planned and potential asset dispositions; inaccuracies of our reserve estimates or our assumptions underlying them; failure of our properties to yield oil or gas in commercially viable quantities; 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; risks related to our level of indebtedness and periodic redeterminations of our borrowing base under our credit agreement; our ability to replace our oil and gas reserves; any loss of our senior management or technical personnel; competition in the oil and gas industry in the regions in which we operate; risks arising out of our hedging transactions and other risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007. We assume no obligation, and disclaim any duty, to update the forward-looking statements in this news release.