Re: Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:31 am
Here's the real story behind any economic recovery we are experiencing, just doesn't fit the Obammer/MSM/greenie agenda....and this guy Hamm wasn't born to the 1%. Hard to tell what the MSM is more concerned w/ignoring, the gigantic failure of Obamacare or the resurgence of domestic oil/gas production.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — In the history of oil, this fall is a tipping point, the moment America gurgles past Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s petroleum king.
The man most responsible is Harold Hamm, 67, a drawling, blue-eyed billionaire, a sharecropper’s son who grew to be the richest energy mogul in America. He was the first to profitably “frack” North Dakota oil wells, leading a revolution in the way the nation coaxes energy from the earth and draining momentum from the search for cleaner fuel sources. His company, Continental Resources, has quintupled in value in a matter of years, emerging as a swaggering promoter of eco-friendly, effectively infinite oil — along with all the supposed good that flows from it.
Now Hamm seems ready to fight anyone who says otherwise. “Anti-frackers are disingenuous,” he said. “They bow to the religion of environmentalism.”
In a series of interviews with NBC News, the self-described nature-lover crowed about “the great renaissance of oil” he helped create and ridiculed those who blame oil companies for warming the climate or poisoning the earth.
“Some of the extremists are calling it carbon pollution,” he joked between appreciative bites of cheeseburger. “I mean, all of us breathe out carbon dioxide. Are we going to quit breathing?”
'This is a new era'
You’ll find no better guide to the new world of energy than Hamm. He fell in love with oil as a gas-pumping teenager, borrowed money to become a wildcatter in his 20s, and spent the next four decades finding treasure where others failed or never tried.
Last month, when U.S. Department of Energy data projected that America had become the globe’s new fuel pump and fuse box, Texas remained the biggest producer of crude oil. North Dakota, however, showed the fastest growth, approaching a million barrels of oil a day, up from 10,000 barrels a day in 2003 — and powering the largest five-year petroleum increase in U.S. history.
“This is a new era,” the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration said at the time, “that you wouldn’t in a million years have dreamed about.”
Hamm did more than just dream about it. He recognized the potential of North Dakota’s Bakken oil field, which now produces more crude than Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, and his company remains the area’s largest lease holder. This month Continental Resources told investors that the region contains enough recoverable oil to double the official count of U.S. reserves and enough "oil in place" to meet the nation’s needs for hundreds of years. While those claims have not been verified by regulators, Hamm’s track record makes them hard to doubt.
“He is an expert at execution,” said Rudy Hokanson, an investment analyst for Barrington Research in Chicago, “someone who creates maximum wealth where others may think small.”
It’s also part of a geopolitical dream come true. Less than a decade ago America seemed poised for a fifth straight decade of shrinking oil production, part of an alarming global dry-up. Experts warned of “peak oil,” an imminent time when demand for the world’s black oxygen would race ahead of supply.
“We’re addicted to oil,” declared President George W. Bush, who admitted that supplies of our drug were “limited.”
Today, to Hamm’s delight, the panic seems misplaced. “The peak oil people have all been wrong,” he said. “They completely missed the boat.” Since reaching a high of 60 percent in 2005, net oil imports have fallen by nearly half and domestic production is at a 25-year high and rising faster than ever.
By 2017, America is expected to be “all but self-sufficient,” according to a report by the International Energy Agency, which attributed this “profound” change to the Hamm-led rebound in oil and gas production. Yes, the nation still uses more crude than it pumps but when the IEA factors in liquid natural gas and biofuels, the balance swings in favor of energy independence.
“I love nature,” says Hamm. “I’m not going to do anything to detract from it.”
After the well tour, Hamm drove to Chickasha for lunch, finding a counter seat at J&W Grill, a box-car of a restaurant on Choctaw Avenue. After the death of conventional drilling in the 1980s, the town withered. Half the snooker tables have been yanked from the men’s club. The mall was all but customer-less on a Friday afternoon.
But Chickasha is changing again, now that Hamm has opened more than a dozen well projects nearby. The J&W Grill was packed with people eating slaw dogs and sliders. “It means everything,” says Lendl Pettigrew, president of the Chickasha Savings and Trust. He counts a dozen new business checking accounts in the last year alone.
“It’s a different age” says Hamm. “We’ll be producing oil for hundreds of years.”
Pls resume your regularly scheduled rich vs poor/minimum wage/repubs hate gays debate.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — In the history of oil, this fall is a tipping point, the moment America gurgles past Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s petroleum king.
The man most responsible is Harold Hamm, 67, a drawling, blue-eyed billionaire, a sharecropper’s son who grew to be the richest energy mogul in America. He was the first to profitably “frack” North Dakota oil wells, leading a revolution in the way the nation coaxes energy from the earth and draining momentum from the search for cleaner fuel sources. His company, Continental Resources, has quintupled in value in a matter of years, emerging as a swaggering promoter of eco-friendly, effectively infinite oil — along with all the supposed good that flows from it.
Now Hamm seems ready to fight anyone who says otherwise. “Anti-frackers are disingenuous,” he said. “They bow to the religion of environmentalism.”
In a series of interviews with NBC News, the self-described nature-lover crowed about “the great renaissance of oil” he helped create and ridiculed those who blame oil companies for warming the climate or poisoning the earth.
“Some of the extremists are calling it carbon pollution,” he joked between appreciative bites of cheeseburger. “I mean, all of us breathe out carbon dioxide. Are we going to quit breathing?”
'This is a new era'
You’ll find no better guide to the new world of energy than Hamm. He fell in love with oil as a gas-pumping teenager, borrowed money to become a wildcatter in his 20s, and spent the next four decades finding treasure where others failed or never tried.
Last month, when U.S. Department of Energy data projected that America had become the globe’s new fuel pump and fuse box, Texas remained the biggest producer of crude oil. North Dakota, however, showed the fastest growth, approaching a million barrels of oil a day, up from 10,000 barrels a day in 2003 — and powering the largest five-year petroleum increase in U.S. history.
“This is a new era,” the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration said at the time, “that you wouldn’t in a million years have dreamed about.”
Hamm did more than just dream about it. He recognized the potential of North Dakota’s Bakken oil field, which now produces more crude than Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, and his company remains the area’s largest lease holder. This month Continental Resources told investors that the region contains enough recoverable oil to double the official count of U.S. reserves and enough "oil in place" to meet the nation’s needs for hundreds of years. While those claims have not been verified by regulators, Hamm’s track record makes them hard to doubt.
“He is an expert at execution,” said Rudy Hokanson, an investment analyst for Barrington Research in Chicago, “someone who creates maximum wealth where others may think small.”
It’s also part of a geopolitical dream come true. Less than a decade ago America seemed poised for a fifth straight decade of shrinking oil production, part of an alarming global dry-up. Experts warned of “peak oil,” an imminent time when demand for the world’s black oxygen would race ahead of supply.
“We’re addicted to oil,” declared President George W. Bush, who admitted that supplies of our drug were “limited.”
Today, to Hamm’s delight, the panic seems misplaced. “The peak oil people have all been wrong,” he said. “They completely missed the boat.” Since reaching a high of 60 percent in 2005, net oil imports have fallen by nearly half and domestic production is at a 25-year high and rising faster than ever.
By 2017, America is expected to be “all but self-sufficient,” according to a report by the International Energy Agency, which attributed this “profound” change to the Hamm-led rebound in oil and gas production. Yes, the nation still uses more crude than it pumps but when the IEA factors in liquid natural gas and biofuels, the balance swings in favor of energy independence.
“I love nature,” says Hamm. “I’m not going to do anything to detract from it.”
After the well tour, Hamm drove to Chickasha for lunch, finding a counter seat at J&W Grill, a box-car of a restaurant on Choctaw Avenue. After the death of conventional drilling in the 1980s, the town withered. Half the snooker tables have been yanked from the men’s club. The mall was all but customer-less on a Friday afternoon.
But Chickasha is changing again, now that Hamm has opened more than a dozen well projects nearby. The J&W Grill was packed with people eating slaw dogs and sliders. “It means everything,” says Lendl Pettigrew, president of the Chickasha Savings and Trust. He counts a dozen new business checking accounts in the last year alone.
“It’s a different age” says Hamm. “We’ll be producing oil for hundreds of years.”
Pls resume your regularly scheduled rich vs poor/minimum wage/repubs hate gays debate.
