North Dakota Democrats are slamming Congressman Kevin Cramer today after he said in an interview with WDAY Television that what tipped the scales on his decision to challenge Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp in the U.S. Senate race was oil billionaire Harold Hamm asking him to run. (Full disclosure, I work for WDAY’s parent company Forum…
Video: Harold Hamm Says Trump Should Pick Kevin Cramer as Energy Secretary
For some time now both Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources and one of the biggest players in North Dakota’s oil fields, and Congressman Kevin Cramer have been rumored to be possibles to serve in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of Energy. Today Hamm told CNBC that Trump should pick Cramer over him: “Kevin’s…
Kevin Cramer: Oil Giant Harold Hamm on “a Very Short List” to Head Trump’s Department of Energy
Whatever you may think of Donald Trump, there is no question that his election has delighted players in North Dakota’s biggest industries, energy and agriculture. On energy, specifically,Trump’s election has probably cleared the Obama-created red tape holding up the Dakota Access Pipeline, and could mean a resurrection of the Keystone XL project as well. And…
Presumptive GOP Nominee Donald Trump To Visit North Dakota Later This Month
It was rumored a week or so ago that Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and/or Donald Trump might be visiting North Dakota in May, appearing at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. Since then Ted Cruz has dropped out of the race after a drubbing in Indiana, and Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee and will be…
Why Are We Treating Iran Better Than American Oil Companies?
“We can’t export. We can’t access the world market.” That’s Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, speaking during a recent CNBC interview about falling oil prices and the federal restrictions on exporting crude oil. Basically, domestic oil producers are held by regulation as a captive audience for the refiners. Because unrefined oil cannot be exported,…
Harold Hamm Still Betting On North Dakota
With oil prices falling there’s been a lot of doom and gloom about North Dakota. The state got an ugly new tax revenue forecast earlier this week, and stories which used to tout the state’s plentiful jobs and rising incomes have been replaced by stories like these. The boom is, without a question, over. Now…
Six Jobs Created In North Dakota/Texas For Every One In The Rest Of The Country
Recently Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm called America’s shale plays “Cowboyistan.” “We’ve got more rigs running than in the rest of the world combined,” he told Forbes. “We’ve got highly trained and reliable rednecks to run them. And unlike anywhere else on the planet, we’ve got property rights, which enable landowners to lease out their…
North Dakota's Biggest Oil Player Cuts $1 Billion In Bakken Expenditures For 2015
So far Governor Jack Dalrymple has been putting a brave face on for the sake of his aggressive 2015-2017 spending budget which assumes oil prices over $70 per barrel. But the oil price rout continues, and now the biggest player in oil development in North Dakota just announced a significant rig reduction and cut in…
From The Left: No Falling Sky In North Dakota
A story was relayed to me by a Fargo area Republican Legislator during the 2009 North Dakota Legislative session. As that session’s budget was being debated in the house, the North Dakota GOP caucus had a meeting with an economist they respected. He came in to analyze the economy of North Dakota, and compare it…
Harold Hamm: Oil Prices Will Rebound To $90 Per Barrel "Pretty Quickly"
A drop off in the price of oil had some in North Dakota spooked. The state has grown spending aggressively, and has charted a course for more spending in the next biennium, but if the bottom falls out of the oil markets there could be a fiscal disaster. Not to mention the crunch it would…