An American business magnate in the oil and gas industry is praising the Trump administration’s latest move to strengthen U.S. energy independence and bolster national security.
"This is a good start, with the president agreeing to start filling the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve]. But prices are, of course, in kind of the bottom of the barrel, as we say, commodity prices are lowest. It's certainly the time to buy this cheaper product and refill [the] SPR with it," Continental Resources founder and Chairman Harold Hamm said on "Mornings with Maria" Friday.
"China has refilled theirs, they're refilling it up to 1.1 billion barrels, and while ours is about 400 million," he added. "So we need to refill it, the timing's right, the president gets it on energy and realizes, certainly, this is the right thing to do."
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On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would buy 1 million barrels of crude oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — America’s emergency oil stockpile.
The Biden administration sold record amounts of oil from the SPR, Reuters reported — including a 180-million-barrel sale after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The reserve’s capacity is 700 million barrels and currently sits at about 409 million.
"We started off with the Biden administration, the first thing he said was he's going to stop oil and gas production. And he's gonna kill the industry. And that's what he intended to do. And it was a terrible policy, and it certainly didn't work out well for him at all. And so with this administration, it's entirely different," Hamm said.
"I think we've seen in many places in the world, especially recently, whether you're talking gas in Europe or critical minerals with China, energy security and national security are linked," he continued.
"The U.S. is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, and we now have an administration that wants to see the energy industry invest in those resources to make sure that America's energy strength translates into economic strength and competitiveness and, importantly, security."
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Looking ahead, Hamm cautioned that oil demand could soon outweigh affordable supply.
"With about 18 months, that oversupply's going to be gone. And then we need to watch out for some price shocks after that point. Once you exceed demand with supply, that's when those things start happening," the business leader warned. "So we have to have an energy industry in this country. Energy independence is so important to us."
