Harold Hamm

Harold Glenn Hamm (born December 11, 1945) is an American oil tycoon known for pioneering the use of hydraulic fracking of shale oil resources. As of February 4, 2022, Hamm's net worth is estimated to be US$18.5 billion, making him the 63rd wealthiest person in the world. He is the founder and chairman of Continental Resources.

In 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor, and Hamm was a donor to the Romney campaign. Hamm was a fundraiser and donor to Donald Trump's 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential campaigns.

Hamm was born in Lexington, Oklahoma, the 13th and youngest child of cotton sharecroppers, Jane Elizabeth (née Sparks) and Leland Albert Hamm. At age 16, Hamm started working at a gas station to support his family. He later went on to muck out oil tanks at a refinery. Hamm graduated from Enid High School in 1964.

Hamm started as a "wildcatter", an oil patch slang for someone who drills risky wells in unmapped geological formations, hoping to discover oil. After he struck oil, he decided to complete his college education at Phillips University in Enid.

In 1967, he founded Shelly Dean Oil Company, which would later become Continental Resources. The company pioneered the development of the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana using horizontally drilled wells and hydraulic fracturing. When Continental Resources grew into a major oil producer, Hamm became a billionaire. Continental Resources, known for its use of shale oil, was previously Oklahoma's fourth-largest public company.

In 2007, Hamm was named the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year". Hamm was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2012, Time magazine named Hamm one of the "World's 100 Most Influential People." Forbes featured him on its cover in May 2014, publishing the story "Harold Hamm: The Billionaire Oilman Fueling America's Recovery."

Shortly after being named energy advisor to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in March 2012, Hamm donated $985,000 to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. Hamm has been described as part of the conservative donor network of the Koch brothers, Charles and David Koch.

In January 2016, Hamm claimed that Saudi Arabia was unsuccessfully attempting to "flood the crude market at a time of oversupply." OPEC, joined now by Russia, forming OPEC+, ceded the contest, making its first production cut since the 2008 financial crisis, in a bow to the demonstrated price resilience of U.S. shale producers.

At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Hamm criticized the Obama administration's energy policies, claiming that President Barack Obama was "burdening oil companies with greater regulations" so that gasoline prices would spike. Hamm also denounced the Iran nuclear deal struck by the Department of State in 2015, asserting that Iran would be more able to export petroleum and develop an atomic bomb.

In the 2016 United States presidential election, Republican candidate Donald Trump considered appointing Hamm as energy secretary.

Hamm contributed $320,000 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. Hamm criticized Trump for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, saying America needs a "clean slate." However, when Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, Hamm fundraised for Trump.

Hamm's first wife was Judith Ann; they had three children. They divorced in 1987.

In April 1988, Hamm married Sue Ann Arnall, with whom he had two children, Jane and Hilary. Sue Ann is an economist and lawyer, and has been an executive at Continental Resources. She filed for divorce on May 19, 2012, but Hamm said that he separated from her in 2005. Several media outlets reported that up to half of Hamm's estimated $20 billion fortune could be transferred to his wife, which would become a world record for most money transferred in a divorce. While a judge ruled that his ex-wife would receive $1 billion, she rejected the settlement, seeking a greater sum. According to CNBC, Arnall deposited a US$974,790,317.77 settlement check in 2015 (equivalent to $1,324,034,300.78 in 2025).