Liberty Energy’s Chris Wright is Harold Hamm's Top Choice for Energy Secretary

Liberty Energy co-founder, chairman and CEO Chris Wright is wildcatter Harold Hamm’s top choice for U.S. energy secretary in the new Trump White House, Hamm told Hart Energy in an exclusive interview.

Hamm, who was previously offered the energy secretary position in the prior Trump administration, was an early supporter of Trump's first run for president and has been a large financial supporter of all three Trump campaigns.

Wright did not reply to a request for comment by press time.

The MIT engineering graduate was part of a mid-1990s team that tried a slickwater frac in a Union Pacific Resources Group well in the Cotton Valley in East Texas that contributed to George Mitchell’s Barnett shale breakthrough in the Fort Worth Basin.

The frac—virtually all water—reduced well costs compared to the expensive amounts of gel that had been typical in cracking tight rock and distributing proppant at the time.

Hamm, an energy-policy influencer who led his Continental Resources from one well-service truck in the 1960s to a more than $10 billion E&P today, said of the top Department of Energy (DOE) post, “There are a number of people, of course, that can do that job very well.”

But, he said, “one of the most articulate people that I know of in energy and from our industry is Chris Wright.”

Wright often presents at industry and generalist programs on the advantages of fossil fuels in lifting the world’s population out of poverty and in improving health and quality of life. He is a founding board member of the Bettering Human Lives Foundation.

Hamm said, “He’s a really, really sharp individual and can do a good job.”

‘Energy czar’

Hamm said another pick for DOE secretary could be North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum with whom he has worked closely in the Williston Basin’s Bakken play and on Continental Resources’ development of the Summit Carbon Solutions project, which aims to sequester CO₂ in the state.

The Financial Times has reported that President Trump is considering Burgum for an “energy czar” post.

Burgum ran for president in 2023 and ended the campaign, supporting Trump instead.

He was among speakers at an energy summit Hamm hosted in the fall of 2023 in Oklahoma City at the Hamm Institute for American Energy. Other speakers included Nikki Haley, who was also a presidential candidate at the time; former secretary of state Mike Pompeo; and former transportation secretary Elaine Chao.

“There are a number of others,” Hamm said that he would support for DOE secretary. He would like to see Burgum continue his work in North Dakota, however.

“That would be a loss of talent really to put him there at DOE. There's so much more he could do. But he knows energy—don't get me wrong.”

He added, “And there are others who have thrown their name in the hat. But Chris is … a fantastic guy. He really, really is.”

‘Help in a lot of other ways’

As for himself, “I'd say put somebody in there that can really do that full time. That would be good.”

Of course, he added, “I could help in a lot of other ways—and will.”

Hamm was offered the top DOE post during the first Trump Administration.

He told Hart Energy in a 2023 interview, though, “I felt like there was so much more for me to do outside of government.

“I could have done a lot there for a while—a couple years—that would’ve made a big difference. But it would’ve been temporary. And it would have shut down what I was doing from a [Continental Resources] company perspective.

“I’d have had to put everything in a trust. It takes you out of the picture. I wasn’t ready to be taken out of the picture.”

‘Better human lives’

A Colorado native, Wright’s official bio at the Liberty website is “a self-described tech nerd turned entrepreneur and a dedicated humanitarian on a mission to better human lives by expanding access to abundant, affordable and reliable energy.”

After receiving his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, Wright did graduate work in electrical engineering at UC Berkeley and MIT.

His frac-mapping company Pinnacle Technologies, which he founded in 1992, was part of the waterfrac tests in the Cotton Valley. He sold the company to Carbo Ceramics in 2002.

He took the chairman post at Barnett developer Stroud Energy, which was sold to Range Resources.

From there, he co-founded pressure-pumper Liberty Energy and was also executive chairman of Bakken- and Rockies-focused E&P Liberty Resources.

He is on the board of small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) developer Oklo Inc. and global mining royalties company EMX Royalty Corp.