Harold Hamm, the billionaire entrepreneur, oil and gas explorer and chairman and CEO of Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR) could be adding U.S. energy secretary to his resume.
Reuters reported that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is considering nominating Hamm if Trump wins the White House.
Attempts to reach Hamm for comment were unsuccessful.
Hamm is no stranger to the political world. Prior to the lifting of the oil export ban in 2015 Hamm participated in 250 one-on-one meetings in the nation’s capital.
Hamm endorsed Trump in April and is one of the candidate’s energy advisers. Hamm previously served as Mitt Romney’s chief energy adviser during the 2012 presidential contest. He is chairman of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, an organization seeking bipartisan solutions for independent oil and natural gas producers.
Hamm, who spoke July 20 at the Republican National Convention, told delegates that four years ago Trump asked him how “we had transformed the North Dakota Bakken into the largest U.S. oil discovery ever.”
Hamm said that he told Trump moving America from energy scarcity to abundance would change the world and “could power America to greatness once again. He wrote that down. Donald Trump got it.”
Dan Eberhart, an oil investor and Republican financier, said he had been told by officials in Trump's campaign that Hamm, who has been an informal advisor to Trump on energy policy since at least May, was “the leading contender” for the position, Reuters reported.
Reuters said three other sources close to the Trump campaign confirmed Trump was considering Hamm for the post.
Prior to Hamm’s speech, he was asked by CNBC conservative commentator Larry Kudlow about the speculation that he would be energy secretary. Hamm “shrugged at the suggestion,” E&E News reported.
On the convention stage, Hamm said President Barack Obama had hamstrung the oil and gas industry. Trump, he said, would release America’s pent-up energy potential, “get rid of foreign oil, trash punitive regulations, create millions of jobs and develop our most strategic geopolitical weapon… crude oil.”
Hamm said that every time the U.S. is unable to drill a well, “terrorism is being funded.”
This year, Oil and Gas Investor magazine named Hamm executive of the year for his leadership in the Bakken, Scoop and Stack plays and his work to lift the oil export ban.
Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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