The story
The company was founded in 1980 by Kenneth R. Whiting and Bert Ladd.
In 1992, Alliant Energy, a Midwest public utility, acquired the company for $27.5 million.
In 2003, the company became a public company via an initial public offering which raised over $400 million. In 2005, the company acquired assets in the North Ward Estes field for $459 million. The property was sold in 2016 for $300 million.
In July 2013, the company sold assets in the Oklahoma Panhandle to BreitBurn Energy Partners for $846 million. In August 2013, the company acquired assets in the Williston Basin for $260 million. In 2014, the company acquired Kodiak Oil & Gas. Kodiak had proven reserves of 167 million barrels of oil equivalent (1.02×109 GJ) and Whiting effectively paid $23.77 per barrel in the ground.
In January 2017, the company sold midstream assets in North Dakota for $375 million. In August 2017, the company sold its assets near the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota for $500 million.
On April 1, 2020, the company filed bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. On September 1, 2020, the company emerged from bankruptcy and appointed Lynn A. Peterson as CEO.
From Wikipedia’s article on Whiting Petroleum, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6