Exhibit
31.1





302
CERTIFICATIONS







I, Larry
D. Pinkston, certify that:




1. I have
reviewed this quarterly report on form 10-Q of Unit Corporation;




2. Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material
fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in
light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading
with respect to the period covered by this report;




3. Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information
included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial
condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and
for, the periods presented in this report;




4. The
registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing
and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act
Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and
have:




(a) Designed such disclosure controls
and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by
others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this
report is being prepared;




(b) Designed such internal control over
financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to
be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the
reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements
for external puposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;




(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the
registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
and




(d) Disclosed in this report any change
in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred
during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth
fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or
is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control
over financial reporting; and




5. The
registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the
registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of
directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):




(a) All significant deficiencies and
material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over
financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and





(b) Any fraud, whether or not material,
that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the
registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.




Date: May
5, 2009







/s/ Larry D.
Pinkston


LARRY D.
PINKSTON


Chief
Executive Officer


and
Director