Organization and Nature of Business

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Nature of Business

Organization and Nature of Business

Continental Resources, Inc. (the “Company”) was originally formed in 1967 and is incorporated under the laws of the State of Oklahoma. The Company's principal business is crude oil and natural gas exploration, development and production with properties primarily located in the North, South, and East regions of the United States. The North region consists of properties north of Kansas and west of the Mississippi River and includes North Dakota Bakken, Montana Bakken and the Red River units. The South region includes all properties south of Nebraska and west of the Mississippi River including various plays in the SCOOP (South Central Oklahoma Oil Province), STACK (Sooner Trend Anadarko Canadian Kingfisher), Northwest Cana, and Arkoma Woodford areas of Oklahoma. The East region is comprised of undeveloped leasehold acreage east of the Mississippi River with no current drilling or production operations.

A substantial portion of the Company’s operations are concentrated in the North region, with that region comprising approximately 62% of the Company’s crude oil and natural gas production and approximately 71% of its crude oil and natural gas revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. The Company's principal producing properties in the North region are located in the Bakken field of North Dakota and Montana. In recent years, the Company has significantly expanded its activity in the South region with its discovery of the SCOOP play and its increased activity in the Northwest Cana and STACK plays. The South region comprised approximately 38% of the Company's crude oil and natural gas production and approximately 29% of its crude oil and natural gas revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

The Company has focused its operations on the exploration and development of crude oil since the 1980s. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016, crude oil accounted for approximately 60% of the Company’s total production and approximately 84% of its crude oil and natural gas revenues.