Taking a page out of this maverick’s playbook could not only help your energy company see long-term success, but also help to promote domestic oil production.
Last Saturday as I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal site, I found an article by Stephan Moore titled “How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia”. In it he profiled Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm who recently had the chance to meet with President Obama as a results of his philanthropic efforts with The Giving Pledge.
As many in the industry are now aware, Mr. Hamm’s interaction with the President was less than ideal. When he had the chance to promote the oil and gas industry to the leader of the free world, he was (in my own terms, not Mr. Hamm’s) “poo-pooh’d.” President Obama noted that the industry would be important for a few years, the country needed to focus on green and alternative energies.
Hm. If the oil and gas industry isn’t important, I wondered, why is it that earlier this year the President pledged to become one of Brazil’s best oil customers? Why I wondered, was the administration seemingly willing to support offshore drilling in South America, but not willing to issue permits in the our own waters?
So when I learned on Tuesday that Harold Hamm would be a guest on the Sean Hannity show, I decided to listen. And I’m glad that I did. It cemented in my mind why Mr. Hamm is such an excellent spokesman not only for Continental Resources, but also for the energy industry as a whole.
Here are just a few of some of the points made during his WSJ interview and Hannity appearance:
- North Dakota, home to the Bakken oilfield, officially has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. In fact, companies are constantly looking for workers (as in over 15,000 of them.)
- According to the recent Wood Mackenzie study, the oil and gas industry can create more than one million jobs if they are allowed to develop in the U.S. Need an example? Canada’s economic recovery has been expedited because of oil and gas production.
- Higher taxes on oil and gas companies only hinders exploration and drilling and will ultimately stall economic growth.
Given Hamm’s track record, our country’s leaders would do well to listen to what he has to say. And as for those in the oil and gas industry, to taking a page out of this maverick’s playbook could not only help your company see long-term success, but also help to promote domestic oil production.