Whiting Petroleum Corp., the North Dakota oil explorer, has attracted interest from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Continental Resources Inc. as it explores a sale of the entire company, people with knowledge of the situation said. Hess Corp. and Statoil ASA are also looking at Denver-based Whiting, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Whiting has set up a data room for potential buyers to evaluate the company’s financial information and asked them to submit bids next week, the people said. The discussions are ongoing and there’s no guarantee a deal will be reached. A potential deal for Whiting, the largest producer in North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation, may be the first in an anticipated pickup of merger activity for U.S. energy producers as they grapple with heavy debt and […]