Oil prices below $50 'not sustainable' for US shale: Continental's Hamm
Oil prices below $50/bbl are not sustainable and If the price of oil falls below $40/bbl it would force drillers to reduce capital expenditures and stop drilling new wells, causing output to dry up and leaving the market undersupplied, said shale pioneer Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources. "While this period of adjustment is going on, drillers don't want to drill themselves into oblivion", he said. "Back up, and be prudent and use some discipline. That's what we're doing at Continental and there are other CEOs I think that are probably doing the same thing."
U.S. shale oil pioneer Harold Hamm on Wednesday warned that sub-$40 crude would cause many U.S. producers to stop drilling and warned fellow CEOs to exercise discipline.

U.S. crude prices have plunged nearly 18 percent this year, giving up the gains they accrued after OPEC and other exporters agreed to reduce output last winter. The cuts aim to shrink global crude stockpiles and support prices, but rising production in the United States and elsewhere has made that effort harder.

On Wednesday, U.S. crude traded at about $44 a barrel.

"This price ... is not sustainable," Hamm, CEO and chairman of Continental Resources , told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "It needs to be north of $50 for sure to be sustainable in the world."