Harold Hamm says Saudi oil pricing effort is illegal

“We’re not asking for a handout—we want a level playing field.” It’s what Harold Hamm, founder of Oklahoma City’s Continental Resources says as the Trump administration considers way to help the country’s oil and gas industry in the pricing crisis.

Interviewed this week on the Bloomberg Markets show with Alix Steel, Hamm accused Saudi Arabia and Russia of taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic and attempting to wipe out the U.S. oil industry.

“I have not spoken directly to the President. We’ve certainly reached out to the White House. I think the best thing is for the industry to take action on its own and that’s where the industry’s going,” said Hamm.

In Wednesday’s interview, Hamm said he just got off a call from the board of DEPA, the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance.

“We’ve been cleared to do an investigation of anti-dumping law. And it’s illegal to do that—what they’ve done. And certainly we’re gonna start that investigation.”

Hamm said it’s clear Russia and Saudi Arabia have carried out an illegal attempt to “grab more market share.”

He said all the industry wants is a level playing field.

“These people are taking advantage of the pandemic to try to wipe us out. That’s what’s going on.”

Hamm said it wouldn’t be a good thing if the U.S. were to lose the good things that the American energy renaissance has provided from horizontal drilling—energy independence, national security and de-intensifying the Middle East.

“So certainly, they oughta take preventive measures. These aren’t normal conditions when you decide to flood the market to extend your market share. That’s the illegal part.”

As he explained, it’s not the first time a foreign country attempted illegal actions to take over the oil market.  Venezuela did it in the late 1990s and DEPA became involved.

“They thought the same thing to take market share from our producers. And it didn’t work out very good for Venezuela. You could almost say ‘Venezuela who?’ these days. Didn’t work out very well for them.”

As for Continental Resources and its ability to withstand the crisis.

“Our company is in good shape to weather this, probably better than most. Continental is very strong. We don’t have any near-term debt. We have a very strong cash flow. Balance sheet is strong. Production is very strong. Debt metrics is very good.”

Click here to view the TV interview.