Continental Resources Reports Completion Results on Its First Well in the Three Forks/Sanish...

Continental Resources Reports Completion Results on Its First Well in the
Three Forks/Sanish Formation in North Dakota Bakken Area
Company Also Drills Its Fourth Operated Well in Michigan's Trenton/Black River
Field

ENID, Okla., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Continental Resources, Inc.
(NYSE: CLR) today announced initial results from its Bice 1-29H well completed
in the Three Forks/Sanish formation in the North Dakota Bakken Shale area. The
Dunn County well, in which Continental has a 41% working interest, is the
Company's first well to be completed in the Three Forks/Sanish formation.
Previous wells drilled by the Company have been completed in the upper portion
of the Middle Bakken zone, which is found up to 110 feet above the top of the
Three Forks/Sanish formation on the Company's acreage.
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"The Bice 1-29H flowed at an average rate of 693 barrels of crude oil
equivalent per day during its initial seven days of production," said Harold
Hamm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Continental Resources. "We are
very pleased with these results. This is our first well designed to test the
theory that the Three Forks/Sanish formation may be a separate oil-producing
reservoir not drained by a horizontal completion in the Middle Bakken zone
above it."
Continental is the largest leaseholder in the Bakken Shale play, with
490,000 acres in North Dakota and Montana. The majority of its acreage runs
north-to-south along the crest of the Nesson Anticline in North Dakota. The
Bice 1-29H is located in the southern part of the anticline, where the top of
the Three Forks/Sanish formation lies approximately 50 feet beneath the upper
portion of the Middle Bakken zone. The Company plans to drill additional wells
in the coming months to further test the potential for the Three Forks/Sanish
formation to add incremental reserves to the play.
On April 10, 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey published a new assessment of
undiscovered, technically recoverable crude oil in the North Dakota and
Montana Bakken Shale Play, estimating that 3 billion to 4.3 billion barrels of
undiscovered crude oil are technically recoverable with currently available
technology and industry practices. This was a 25-fold increase over the
previous USGS assessment, published in 1995. The 2008 estimate made the Bakken
the largest continuous oil accumulation ever assessed by the USGS in the lower
48 states.
Trenton/Black River Update
Continental Resources also announced positive results while drilling its
fourth operated well, the Boardman 1-1, in the Trenton/Black River play in
Hillsdale County, MI. The Boardman 1-1 was drilled to a total depth of 4,010
feet and exhibited 190 feet of net pay, based upon indications while drilling.
The Company said that at 3,939 feet, the drill bit dropped 22 feet, indicating
a cavernous karsted dolomite section. The pay zone in this well appears to be
comparable to the Company's previous three producing wells nearby. Continental
has an 83% working interest in the Boardman 1-1.
The Company has set casing in the Boardman 1-1 and expects to begin
completion operations within the next 10 days. The three previous wells in the
area, the McArthur 1-36, the Anspaugh 1-1 and the Wessel 1-6, are currently
producing at a state-restricted rate of 650 bopd.
The Company is moving the rig to commence drilling the second well of a
four-well drilling program in the area. Additional drilling operations are
expected later this year.
Continental Resources is a crude-oil concentrated, independent oil and
natural gas exploration and production company with operations in the Rocky
Mountain, Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions of the United States. The
Company focuses its operations in large new and developing plays where
horizontal drilling, advanced fracture stimulation and enhanced recovery
technologies provide the means to economically develop and produce oil and
natural gas reserves from unconventional formations.
Contact: Warren Henry
Continental Resources, Inc.
(580) 548-5127

SOURCE Continental Resources, Inc.

Warren Henry of Continental Resources, Inc., +1-580-548-5127