Continental Resources, Inc. has recently added 36,000 net acres to its holdings in North Dakota Bakken, including 32,000 net acres in Mercer County, adjacent to other Continental acreage. The Company's total acreage position is now 577,000 net acres in the Bakken shale play of North Dakota and Montana.

The Company also announced initial production results for several recently completed wells, including its third and fourth wells completed in the Three Forks/Sanish (TFS) formation of North Dakota.

The Croff 1-2H (33% WI) in McKenzie Co. flowed at an average rate of 1,001 barrels of crude oil equivalent per day (boepd) from the TFS formation during its initial week of production. The Croff 1-2H is the Company's third TFS test. It is located south of the Mathistad 1-35H, which the Company completed in July, flowing 1,260 boepd.

Continental's fourth TFS well, the Ronholdt 1-16H (54% WI) in Burke Co., produced at an average rate of 196 boepd during its initial week of production. The Ronholdt 1-16H was drilled as a single lateral on 640-acre spacing in contrast to the first three TFS wells that were drilled as single laterals on 1,280-acre spacing.

The Company completed the Rodney 1-29H (35% WI) in Dunn Co., with the well flowing at an average rate of 692 boepd during its initial week of production. The Rodney 1-29H was completed as a single lateral on 1,280-acre spacing in the Middle Bakken zone.

Continental is currently operating 10 rigs in the North Dakota Bakken play, with six of those targeting the Three Forks/Sanish formation. In addition, seven TFS wells have been drilled and are in various stages of being completed. Continental also has four rigs drilling in Richland County, Montana, where it plans to begin drilling its first TFS-test well in Montana later this month.

"We are very pleased with the Croff 1-2H and the consistency of results with our Three Forks/Sanish wells in the central and south-central portions of our North Dakota acreage," said Harold Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"The Ronholdt 1-16H was the first of five test wells that we have drilled in the northernmost part of our North Dakota acreage," he said. "The results from these five wells should give us a much better understanding of the potential of the TFS formation in this area." The Ronholdt is located east of the Nesson Anticline, which is the primary geological feature running north-to-south through Continental's North Dakota Bakken acreage. The four remaining TFS test wells are more centrally located on the Nesson Anticline and have been scheduled for completion.

"We are confident that the Three Forks/Sanish zone is a productive drilling objective," Mr. Hamm said. "Aside from increasing our production, these Three Forks/Sanish completions are the first of several steps that may lead to confirmation of our theory that the Three Forks/Sanish is a separate oil-bearing zone from the Middle Bakken over the majority of our North Dakota acreage."

Over most of Continental's North Dakota acreage, the Three Forks/Sanish formation lies approximately 50-to-125 feet beneath the base of the Upper Bakken shale. Prior to completing its first TFS well in May 2008, Continental had completed all of its North Dakota Bakken wells with a lateral well bore located just below the base of the Upper Bakken shale, in the Middle Bakken zone.

Continental continues to move forward with drilling in the Arkoma Woodford shale play and Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma, as well as with secondary recovery efforts in the Red River Units in the Rocky Mountain region.

In the Arkoma Woodford play, Continental recently completed the Blevins 1-1H (54% WI) in Hughes County, OK, for an average rate of 8.1 MMcf per day during the first week of production.

The Company announced the Hightower 1-29 (99% WI) in Blaine Co., was completed flowing at an average rate of 5.9 MMcfe per day during its initial seven days of production from the Britt sand.

Finally, Continental announced that it had completed the new water-source well in the Red River Units, a necessary step in accelerating its secondary recovery water-flood program. Average production was 13,551 boepd in the Units in the second quarter of 2008, and is expected to peak at approximately 21,000 boepd in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Tags: Bakken Shale Holdings