U.S. shale player Whiting Petroleum said it expects overall production to rise, though fewer wells are planned in areas like the Bakken play in North Dakota. Whiting said its fourth quarter total production average of 131,260 barrels of oil equivalent per day was 30 percent higher year-on-year and 13 percent above third quarter 2014 levels. First quarter production levels are expected to average 163,000 boe per day. Whiting, which has headquarters in Denver, acquired rival Kodiak Oil & Gas last year in an all-stock transaction valued at $6 billion. Whiting Chairman James Volker said the acquisition made his company the largest producer in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota, a basin at the heart […]