Hamm predicts $75 oil in next six months

“I think we’re probably headed for $75 oil price in the next six months.”  Harold Hamm interview on CNBC.

Not only is Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm not consumed about the killing of an Iranian general and its effect on the world’s oil and gas industry, he’s predicting U.S.  oil prices will jump 19% in the next six months.

It’s what he stated this week during an interview on CNBC News. Hamm also predicted oil prices will climb to $75 a barrel regardless of what happens in the Middle East following President Trump’s decision to wage an air strike, taking out Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani who was the leader of the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Soleimani’s death has the potential to ignite conflicts, if not war in the oil-rich Middle East and certainly affected global crude production. Regardless of what happens, Hamm believes prices are headed up.

“I think we’re probably headed for $75 oil price in the next six months. That’s where the market’s going, and we’ll get there. It’s not too much to ask.”

Hamm said during the CNBC interview that the market is headed toward a “tightening of supplies” regardless of what happens in the Mideast. “I’m not terribly worried what’s going right down in Iran,” he said. ….

He also said that he doesn’t see a move to $75 a barrel by U.S. benchmark WTI as a big jump, given the health of the U.S. economy. He did say that he believed that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries want to see oil at $80. He didn’t clarify as to whether he meant U.S. oil or the global benchmark Brent.

Crude-oil prices climbed Monday, with the benchmarks touching their highest levels in at least seven months in early action. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was virtually unchanged at $62.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after giving up earlier gains that sent it to an intraday peak at $64.72, according to FactSet data. A jump to $75 for WTI would represent a more than 19% increase from current levels.

Iran has vowed to avenge the death of the general, and Iraq’s parliament has threatened to expel U.S. troops from the country, which has caused President Donald Trump to counter with a threat of sanctions against Baghdad.

Hamm was replaced as CEO at Continental Resources by William Berry, a former ConocoPhillips executive and Continental board member. Hamm currently serves as executive chairman of the company.