For horizontal drilling and fracking pioneer Harold Hamm, turning unconventional oil and gas resources into economic gold has made him both an industry icon and shale rock star. As founder and chairman of Okla. City-based Continental Resources, Hamm was the voice yesterday at CERAWeek warning U.S. oil production is starting to plateau. He’s also the face behind a new international opportunity to apply his company’s Midas touch outside its Anadarko, Bakken, and Permian successes. ...

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the C-suite when “advanced talks” of a potential merger conclude with a final agreement. There’s a certain romanticism to the dance—at least one can envision—when negotiations are at last settled, and a hard-fought deal is ultimately reached that promises more bounties ahead....

When earnings season rolls around, which it now has with 1Q in the bag for most oil and gas companies, Wall Street analysts are nothing short of giddy to share their comparisons and contrasts among rivals following earnings reports. That’s what shareholders expect. But in the echelon of largest U.S. energy players, this exclusively translates to Exxon and Chevron—also ranked as fifth and seventh largest, respectively, in the world. ...