12:00PM New York – Whiting Petroleum earnings surge six-fold on rising crude oil and natural gas prices.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation an independent oil and gas company today reported record first quarter 2008 revenue of $286.73 million compared with $159.72 million for the same quarter of 2007.

First quarter net income was $62.3 million or $1.47 per basic and diluted share compared to net income of $10.7 million or $0.29 per basic and diluted share, on total revenues of $159.9 million.

Quarterly production rises

Production in the first quarter of 2008 totaled 3.74 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE), of which 2.59 million barrels were crude oil (69%) and 1.15 MMBOE was natural gas (31%).

The first quarter production total equates to a daily average production rate of 41,120 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), compared to the 39,260 BOE per day average rate in 2007''s first quarter. This also represents a 2% increase from the fourth quarter 2007 daily average rate of 40,340 BOE.

Production in the first quarter of 2007 was affected by a refinery fire, which caused approximately 378 BOE per day of production to be shut-in or restricted.

Whiting has increased its exploration and development budget by $100 million to $740 million for 2008.

In the first quarter, Whiting''s net production from the Middle Bakken formation in the Sanish and Parshall fields of North Dakota totaled 3,344 barrels of oil per day, which represents a 92% increase over the fourth quarter of 2007. Net production from these fields in March rose to 4,153 barrels of oil per day.

In the Company''s Sanish field in Mountrail County, North Dakota, Whiting completed its Maynard Uran Trust 11-24H on April 23, 2008 flowing 1,923 barrels of oil and 1.3 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas per day from the Middle Bakken formation at a vertical depth of approximately 10,300 feet.

Whiting is currently drilling or completing six wells in the Sanish field and is also completing a 100% working interest well in the northern portion of the neighboring Parshall field.

Crude oil and natural gas hedging losses

Whiting recorded a loss of $22.9 million on its crude oil hedges during the first quarter of 2008.

During the first quarter, our company-wide basis differential for crude oil compared to NYMEX was $8.38 per barrel, which compared to $8.79 per barrel in the first quarter of 2007 and $8.25 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2007. We expect our oil price differential to remain at $8.00 to $8.50 in 2008.

During the first quarter, our company-wide basis differential for natural gas compared to NYMEX was $0.14 per Mcf, which compared to $0.44 per Mcf in the first quarter of 2007 and $0.60 per Mcf in the fourth quarter of 2007. We expect our gas price differential to be in the range of $0.30 to $0.50 in second quarter of 2008.

James J. Volker, Whiting''s Chairman, President and CEO, commented, ""We continue to generate excellent results from our Bakken drilling program in North Dakota where we recently brought on the Maynard Uran Trust #11-24H with an initial production rate of 2,132 BOE per day. We are completing construction of our Robinson Lake gas processing plant in the Sanish field and expect gas and natural gas liquids sales to begin from this area by June 30.

We also completed the installation of a 2.9-mile pipeline at our Boies Ranch prospect in the Piceance Basin and expect to bring on more than 6 million cubic feet per day of net gas production from seven wells at Boies Ranch by June 1. In addition, both of our CO2 projects are responding to CO2 injection and we expect to see continuing production increases from both floods as the year progresses.""

Whiting acquires interest in gas wells

On May 4, 2008, Whiting entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Chicago Energy Associates, LLC to purchase interests in producing gas wells, a gathering system and development acreage in the Flat Rock Natural Gas Field in Uintah County, Utah for a
purchase price of $365 million.

Whiting capital budget