CLR up on Three Forks success

[dan_s]

Continental Resources Inc. (CLR), the largest owner of oil-drilling rights in the U.S. Bakken Shale, said the formation holds about 57 percent more crude than previously thought. The shares rose the most in more than three months.

The formation beneath North Dakota and Montana holds the equivalent of 903 billion barrels of so-called oil in place, compared with the company’s 2010 estimate of 577 billion, Oklahoma City-based Continental said in a statement today. The Bakken’s potential expanded after the company was the first to successfully tap a deeper geological layer of the Three Forks zone, according to the statement.

The breakthrough at the Charlotte 3-22H well represents the second exploration triumph in as many months for Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Harold Hamm. The company announced a discovery known as the South Central Oklahoma Oil Province, or SCOOP, on Oct. 9 that may add 1.8 billion barrels to Continental’s reserves in coming years.

“The results are very encouraging and indicate that there may be an upside to our estimate of 24 billion barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable reserves for the Bakken field,” Jack Stark, Continental’s senior vice president of exploration, said in the statement.

[dan_s]

OAS, SM and WLL up on this good news from CLR. Surprising that KOG is not up as well since they have a lot of Three Forks potential under their leasehold.