Doug Burgum

We think that, you know, one of the early targets we had was cut 10 percent of the cost away from those producers just by cutting red tape.

So if you think about, you know, 60 bucks today, it might be what 67 bucks was yesterday.

a year ago because of our ability to take cost out for those producers.

And there's example after example, whether it's from the EPA, the Department of Energy, Department of Interior, where we've been able to help reduce costs.

And of course, this industry has been better than almost any in terms of gaining productivity.

The shale producers now drilling three mile laterals instead of two mile laterals, up to four mile laterals in many places.

Offshore, we've seen examples.

Overseas, the people building 10-mile laterals when they're getting after the shale rock, all with the same small well pad on the surface.

So great for land management and great for energy production, and kudos to this industry.

The entire shale revolution has occurred through innovation, and that innovation is going to continue.

And with AI applied to that, it's going to get even better.

So I see the leading companies are getting their costs down, even as demand is going up.

Well, I think, again, I'd have to take a look at the numbers.

When we talk about drilling activity, in my home state of North Dakota, we had a number of wells.

The well count was going down, but the miles of lateral productive rock could be going up.

And so, you know, analysts have got to make sure that they're actually keeping up with how fast this industry is changing because we've got, again, record production occurring right now, and we expect to see records through 2026.

Well, again, the key is its supply and its infrastructure.

We have places in the U.S.

right now where, again, there's not one price for gas in America, as you know.

I mean, even though we've got the markets and we've got Henry Hub, but we've got widely ranging prices.