Source: Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal, “How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia,” October 1, 2011.
In this provocative story from the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore interviewed Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm. He believes that the US could be “completely energy independent by the end of the decade. We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century.” Hamm was the original discoverer of the Bakken oil fields of Montana and North Dakota that have already helped move the US into third place among world oil producers. Hamm believes that the “that the entire field, fully developed, in Bakken is 24 billion barrels.”
Continental is the 14th largest oil company in the US.