2006 Net Income Increases 28% to $156.4 Million
Discretionary Cash Flow Up 33% in 2006
Annual Production Up 26% to 15.16 MMBOE
Whiting Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: WLL - News) today reported fourth quarter 2006 net income of $28.0 million, or $0.76 per basic and diluted share, on total revenues of $186.6 million. Fourth quarter 2006 net income included after-tax gains related to property sales of $6.5 million or $0.18 per share. This compares to fourth quarter 2005 net income of $38.3 million, or $1.05 per basic and diluted share, on total revenues of $186.0 million. Discretionary cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2006 totaled $83.8 million, compared to the $112.2 million reported for the same period in 2005. A reconciliation of discretionary cash flow to net cash provided by operating activities is included at the end of this news release. The decrease in fourth quarter 2006 net income versus the comparable 2005 period was primarily the result of higher operating and exploration costs and lower crude oil and natural gas price realizations.
Full-year 2006 Results
For the full-year 2006, Whiting reported record net income of $156.4 million, or $4.26 per basic share and $4.25 per diluted share, on total revenues of $778.8 million. This compares to 2005 net income of $121.9 million, or $3.89 per basic share and $3.88 per diluted share, on total revenues of $540.4 million. Discretionary cash flow in 2006 was up 33% to $426.2 million from $321.7 million in 2005.
Oil and gas production in 2006 totaled 15.16 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE), or an average of 41,530 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day. This rate represents a 26% increase compared to the 33,089 BOE per day average, or 12.08 MMBOE total, produced in 2005.
Fourth Quarter Production
Production in the fourth quarter of 2006 totaled 3.80 MMBOE, of which 2.47 million barrels was crude oil (65%) and 1.33 MMBOE was natural gas (35%). This fourth quarter 2006 production total equates to a daily average production rate of 41,300 BOE, representing a 3% increase over the 40,020 BOE per day average rate in 2005's fourth quarter.
As previously reported, approximately 4,500 BOE per day of production was shut in during late December 2006 due to a severe ice storm at Whiting's Postle Field and Dry Trail Gas Plant in Texas County, Oklahoma. Electric power was out from December 29, 2006 until January 4, 2007, at which time Whiting Oklahoma and Texas based personnel returned approximately two-thirds of the field to production through the use of 21 mobile electric generators. The local utility restored full power to the Postle Field by January 31, 2007, at which time the field's production was back at approximately 4,500 BOE per day.
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