UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON,
D.C. 20549
FORM
8-K
CURRENT
REPORT
Pursuant
to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities
Exchange Act of 1934
Date
of Report (Date of earliest event reported): July 1, 2008
(Exact
name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware
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1-9260
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73-1283193
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|||
(State
or other jurisdiction
of
incorporation)
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(Commission
File Number)
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(I.R.S.
Employer
Identification
No.)
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7130
South Lewis, Suite 1000, Tulsa, Oklahoma
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74136
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(Address
of principal executive offices)
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(Zip
Code)
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Registrant’s
telephone number, including area code: (918) 493-7700
Not
Applicable
(Former
name or former address, if changed since last report)
Check the
appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously
satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following
provisions:
Written
communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR
230.425)
|
Soliciting
material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.14a-12)
|
Pre-commencement
communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.14d-2(b))
|
Pre-commencement
communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR
240.13e-4(c))
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Section 8 - Other
Events.
Item 8.01 Other
Events.
On July
1, 2008, Unit Corporation (the "Company") issued a press release
announcing an increase in its 2008 capital expenditure budget from $512
million to $692 million as well as providing an update on certain aspects of its
business segments' operations.
The press
release furnished as an exhibit to this report includes forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain
risks and uncertainties, as disclosed by the Company in its press release and
from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As
a result of these factors, the Company's actual results may differ materially
from those indicated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Except as
required by law, we disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise forward
looking statements after the date of this report to conform them to actual
results.
A
copy of the press release is filed as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report
on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Section 9 - Financial Statements and
Exhibits.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and
Exhibits.
(d)
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Exhibits.
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Exhibit
No.
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Description
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99.1
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Press
release announcing Unit Corporation's increase in the 2008 capital
expenditure budget and other operations
updates.
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1
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto
duly authorized.
Unit
Corporation
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Date: July
1, 2008
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By: /s/ Mark E.
Schell
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Mark E. Schell
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Senior Vice
President
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and General
Counsel
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2
EXHIBIT INDEX
Description
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99.1
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Press
release announcing Unit Corporation's increase in the 2008 capital
expenditure budget and other operations
updates.
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3
News UNIT
CORPORATION
7130 South
Lewis Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136
Telephone
918 493-7700, Fax 918 493-7714
Contact: David
T. Merrill
Chief Financial Officer &
Treasurer
(918) 493-7700
For
Immediate Release…
July
1, 2008
UNIT CORPORATION
ANNOUNCES INCREASE IN CAPITAL EXPENDITURES BUDGET AND OTHER OPERATIONS
UPDATES
Tulsa,
Oklahoma….Unit Corporation (NYSE - UNT) today announced that its Board of
Directors has increased the company’s 2008 capital expenditures budget from $512
million to $692 million, a 35% increase. This budget, which does not
include amounts for potential acquisitions, is attributable to the company's
operating segments as follows: Exploration and Production: $470
million, an increase of 31% from $360 million; Contract Drilling: $173 million,
up 45% from $119 million; and Mid-Stream: $48 million, up 50% from $32
million.
Contract
Drilling Segment
The
company's drilling segment currently owns 131 drilling rigs, having recently
added two drilling rigs with one in May and one in June. A new 1,500
horsepower SCR drilling rig, already under contract, is expected to go into
service in November 2008, while a second identical rig, also under contract, is
scheduled to go into service in early 2009. When completed, these two
drilling rigs, both of which will be working in the Bakken Shale play in North
Dakota, will bring the total fleet to 133 drilling rigs.
Larry
Pinkston, Unit’s CEO and President, said: "Activity in our contract
drilling segment is strong, as evidenced by 100% of our drilling rigs in the
1,000 and 1,500 horsepower range are currently under contract. As
customer requests for newly built drilling rigs increase, we plan to add
drilling rigs to our fleet to meet that demand. We are currently
ordering the major components necessary to allow us to build six additional
drilling rigs that we plan to have contracted and placed into service by mid
2009.”
Exploration
and Production Segment
The
company's exploration and production segment recently acquired a 25%
non-operated working interest in 152,000 acres in the Marcellus shale play in
Appalachia located in Somerset and Bedford Counties, Pennsylvania and
Garrett and Allegany Counties, Maryland. Five exploratory test wells
are currently planned to be drilled on this acreage starting in late
2008.
In
addition to its Marcellus shale project, the company also owns oil and natural
gas leases covering approximately 27,164 gross acres, 11,506 net acres, in
Shelby and Harrison Counties in East Texas, which are prospective for the
Haynesville/Bossier shale play as well as the shallower Cotton Valley sand
formation. The company recently participated as a 60% working interest
partner in the drilling of a vertical test well on part of this
acreage. This well, which was drilled through the Cotton Valley
formation to the Haynesville/Bossier formation, had encouraging mud log natural
gas shows in both formations. Results of the completion of this well
will not be known for several months.
In
southeast Oklahoma, the company owns oil and natural gas leases on approximately
97,000 gross acres, 18,100 net acres, that it believes are prospective for the
horizontal drilling of the Woodford shale. Most of these leases are
held by production and are located in Pittsburg and Latimer Counties along
with minor interests in Coal and Atoka Counties. The company is
in the process of drilling its first horizontal Woodford test well and currently
plans to drill two additional horizontal Woodford test wells in
2008.
The
company has also acquired a 20% non-operated working interest in approximately
27,000 acres of oil and natural gas leases in the potential Bakken horizontal
shale play located in McKenzie County, North Dakota. Initial, but
limited, results from several of the recently drilled wells are promising with
some wells experiencing initial production flow rates as high as 500 barrels of
oil per day. Approximately 12 wells are anticipated to be drilled on
this acreage in 2008.
Larry
Pinkston said: "The increase in our 2008 capital expenditure program
is a reflection of our financial results and field-level success. We
currently believe that our exploration and production segment's oil and natural
gas production will exceed our original forecasted 2008 production growth of 10%
to 12%. The increase in this segment's budget coincides with an
increase in the number of wells we are targeting to participate in during 2008,
up to 300 wells from an original forecast of 280 wells.”
Second
Quarter 2008 Webcast
Unit will
release its second quarter 2008 earnings and host a conference call on Tuesday,
August 5, 2008. The webcast will be broadcast live over the Internet
at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time at http://www.unitcorp.com.
Unit Corporation is a Tulsa-based,
publicly held energy company engaged through its subsidiaries in oil and gas
exploration, production, contract drilling and natural gas gathering and
processing. Unit’s Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol UNT. For more information about Unit
Corporation, visit our website at http://www.unitcorp.com.
This
news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
private Securities Litigation Reform Act. All statements, other than
statements of historical facts, included in this release that address
activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will
or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. A number
of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from
these statements, including the productive capabilities of the oil and gas
leasehold acreage discussed in this release, the productive capability
of recently drilled wells, future demand for the company’s drilling
rigs, the company’s ability to obtain all the equipment required to build the
new rigs discussed in this release as well as the company's ability
to obtain contracts covering those rigs, the timing of the completion of
drilling rigs currently under construction, projected growth of the
Company’s oil and natural gas production, our ability to meet our consecutive
quarterly positive net income goals, oil and gas reserve information, as well as
our ability to meet our future reserve replacement goals, the prospective
capabilities of the reserves associated with the Company’s inventory of future
drilling sites, anticipated oil and natural gas prices, the number of wells to
be drilled by the Company’s exploration segment, development, operational,
implementation and opportunity risks, and other factors described from time to
time in the Company’s publicly available SEC reports. The Company
assumes no obligation to update publicly such forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.