Whiting Petroleum Corporation Acquires Additional Royalty and Overriding Royalty Interests in North Ward Estes Field

Whiting Petroleum Corporation Acquires Additional Royalty and Overriding
Royalty Interests in North Ward Estes Field

DENVER, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Whiting Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:
WLL) announced today that it has acquired additional royalty and overriding
royalty interests in its North Ward Estes field and various other fields in
the Permian Basin. Also included in the transaction were contractual rights,
including an option to participate for a 5.0% working interest and right to
back in after payout for an additional 7.5% working interest in the
development of deeper pays on acreage under and adjoining the North Ward Estes
field. The purchase price was $38.7 million with an effective date of October
1, 2009. Over 90% of the purchase price was allocated to the royalty and
overriding royalty interests in the North Ward Estes field, located in Ward
and Winkler Counties, Texas. The sellers were private owners.

Net production attributable to the producing royalty and overriding royalty
interests is estimated at 270 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day for
September, 2009. Whiting estimates proved reserves attributable to the
acquired interests are 2.2 million BOE for an acquisition price of $17.59 per
BOE. Reserves attributable to royalty and overriding royalty interests are
not burdened by operating expenses or any additional capital costs, including
CO2 costs, which are paid by the working interest owners. Whiting estimates
that the non-cost bearing nature of these interests makes them worth
approximately 33% more than working interest barrels. Therefore, an equivalent
working interest barrel would have had a price per BOE of approximately
$11.79.

James J. Volker, Whiting's President and CEO, commented "We are pleased to
have acquired this additional interest in our North Ward Estes field, which
continues to respond favorably to our expanding CO2 injection project. We
expect the additional revenue interest to reduce our operating expenses and
enhance the profitability on a unit of production basis."

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 natural gas prices; our level of success in development and production
activities; the timing of our exploration and development expenditures,
including our ability to obtain CO2; inaccuracies of our reserve estimates or
our assumptions underlying them; revisions to reserve estimates as a result of
changes in commodity prices; unforeseen underperformance of or liabilities
associated with acquired properties; failure of our properties to yield oil or
gas in commercially viable quantities; and other risks described under the
caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period
ended June 30, 2009. We assume no obligation, and disclaim any duty, to
update the forward-looking statements in this news release.

SOURCE Whiting Petroleum Corporation

John B. Kelso, Director of Investor Relations of Whiting Petroleum
Corporation, +1-303-837-1661, john.kelso@whiting.com