当被问及潜在的合并时，德克萨斯州沃斯堡大陆资源公司创始人哈罗德哈姆并未做出承诺。

“我不排除这种可能性，”他说。

但他在 5 月 14 日与哈特能源SUPER DUG 2025会议和博览会与会者举行的“问我任何问题”会议上补充道，大陆集团——也就是说，哈姆家族必须保留合并后 E&P 的控股权。

在交易方面，私人控股的大陆航空在其 55 多年的历史中仅以现金收购房地产，而不是整个公司的交易。

担任执行董事长的哈姆及其家人持有 100% 的股份。

“我们喜欢保持低调。我们喜欢像家人一样掌控全局，”他说，“即使我们上市了，我们基本上也一直掌控着局面。”

2007年，为了在后来成为新矿区的北达科他州巴肯地区进行野猫式开采，他通过首次公开募股（IPO）出售了大陆石油15%的股份，筹集了3.1亿美元。2022年，他以43亿美元的价格回购了这些股份，再次将大陆石油私有化。

在SUPER DUG的舞台上，哈姆被问及大陆集团是否有兴趣收购传闻即将出售的英国石油公司（BP Plc ） 。哈姆笑着说：“我不知道我能不能出价超过壳牌。”

相反，哈姆对英国石油公司与其他勘探生产公司合并后剥离的任何资产感兴趣。具体来说，英国石油公司旗下位于美国本土48个州的陆上勘探生产公司BPX在二叠纪盆地、海恩斯维尔页岩气田以及鹰福特页岩富凝析油区拥有运营区块。

“很多时候，当大公司进行这些收购和兼并时，他们会发现自己陷入了债务上限的境地，需要出售不同的资产并达成交易，”哈姆说。

“这成为了与这些公司进行交易的一个相当肥沃的市场。这才是我们这么多独立公司得以生存的真正原因——那些与大公司或大型公司进行交易的那些非核心业务。”

位于威利斯顿盆地的大陆邻居赫斯公司 (Hess Corp. ) 正在与雪佛龙公司 (Chevron Corp.)合并。

如果雪佛龙在收购巴肯矿后将其剥离，大陆石油公司是否愿意购买？

“当然，”哈姆说。

“我们在巴肯地区发现的所有项目都经过了仔细的审查。我们对赫斯的资产很熟悉。他们有很多中游业务。我们以前也有一些中游公司。这让事情变得有点复杂，但仍然是我们会考虑的事情。”

不过，大陆石油公司在北达科他州还有大量库存可供钻探，他说。

但是“我们正在钻探，你总是需要增加库存，所以我们会继续寻找。巴肯一直很好。非常棒。我们对此赞不绝口。”

“很多人已经放弃了四五次，但它就是没有消失。我们每天都会发现一些非常有效的新方法。”

一位与会者还询问大陆石油公司是否对Diamondback Energy位于特拉华盆地南部的油田感兴趣。

哈姆停顿了一下，然后笑了。 ”当然。好的。”

FORT WORTH, TEXAS—Continental Resources Founder Harold Hamm was noncommittal when asked about a potential merger.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said.

But Continental—that is, the Hamm family—would have to retain controlling interest in a post-merged E&P, he added in an “ask me anything” session May 14 with attendees at Hart Energy’s SUPER DUG 2025 Conference and Expo.

In deal-making, privately held Continental has in the past only acquired property, and for cash, rather than whole-company deals in its more than 55-year history.

Hamm, who is executive chairman, and his family hold 100% of shares.

“We liked being private. We liked being in a controlling position that we're in as a family,” he said. “We basically always had control even when we were public.”

In 2007, to fund wildcatting in what would become a new play—the Bakken in North Dakota—Hamm sold 15% interest in Continental in an IPO, raising $310 million. In 2022, he bought the shares back for $4.3 billion, taking Continental private again.

On stage at SUPER DUG, Hamm was asked if Continental would be interested in buying BP Plc, which is rumored to be for sale. Hamm laughed, “I don't know if I could outbid Shell or not.”

Instead, Hamm would be interested in any properties shed after a BP merger with another E&P. In particular, BP’s Lower 48 onshore E&P unit, BPX, holds operated acreage in the Permian Basin, Haynesville Shale gas play and the condensate-rich window of the Eagle Ford Shale.

“A lot of times, when these acquisitions and mergers are made by big companies, they'll find themselves in a debt-limit situation and need to sell off different properties and make deals,” Hamm said.

“It becomes a pretty fertile market for making deals with those companies. That’s really what feeds so many of our independents here—what falls off as non-core from those major companies or large companies that make those deals.”

Hess Corp., a Continental neighbor in the Williston Basin, is merging with Chevron Corp.

Would Continental want to buy the Bakken property if carved out of Chevron post-closing?

“Sure,” Hamm said.

“We've not seen anything in the Bakken that we didn't look at real closely. And we're familiar with those [Hess] assets. They have a lot of midstream stuff. We've had midstream companies before. It complicates it a little bit, but it's still something that we'd look at.”

Continental has plenty of inventory left to drill in North Dakota, though, he said.

But “we're drilling it up and you always need to add inventory, so we continue to look. The Bakken has been very good.  It's been fantastic. We can't say enough about it.

“A lot of people have written it off four or five times, but it just doesn't go away. We still find out every day new stuff that works really well.”

An attendee also asked if Continental is interested in Diamondback Energy’s southern Delaware Basin acreage.

Hamm paused, then smiled. “Sure. Okay.”