I think Hamm has confused what is causing the higher stable price. He says it is lower market share by the Saudis. Might is rather be less supply relative to demand. I think that the Saudis still have the capacity to impact oil prices significantly because of the low short term demand elasticity. But, Hamm is likely pretty bright so I might be wrong.
The Weekend Interview with Harold Hamm: How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia - WSJ.com: "One reason for the renaissance has been OPEC's erosion of market power. "For nearly 50 years in this country nobody looked for oil here and drilling was in steady decline. Every time the domestic industry picked itself up, the Saudis would open the taps and drown us with cheap oil," he recalls. "They had unlimited production capacity, and company after company would go bust."
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Zina Saunders
Today OPEC's market share is falling and no longer dictates the world price. This is huge, Mr. Hamm says. "Finally we have an opportunity to go out and explore for oil and drill without fear of price collapse." When OPEC was at its peak in the 1990s, the U.S. imported about two-thirds of its oil. Now we import less than half of it, and about 40% of what we do import comes from Mexico and Canada. That's why Mr. Hamm thinks North America can achieve oil independence."
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