DENVER -- Harold Hamm, the CEO of Continental Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLR), can’t help but get excited about technology. “In 2000, we were running out of oil and gas, and then along came technology?horizontal drilling?and that saved us.”

Hamm, the opening keynote speaker at Hart Energy’s DUG Bakken and Niobrara conference on April 3, expressed confidence in technology’s ability to solve future problems as it has in the U.S. for centuries.

“In the 1890s they had a huge problem in Manhattan. Manure kept piling up from all the horses, and nobody knew what to do with it. And then gasoline engines and cars came about, and it eliminated the whole need for horses. In the 1970s in places like Los Angeles and Denver there was smog and the brown cloud, and then along came the catalytic converter – a solution by technology. And then there’s today – the technology with horizontal drilling. Technology works. It’s a great thing and a big factor in our business today.”

“In the future our kids will be solving the problems of the world, and I’m sure that technology will play a big part in that as well.”

Technology certainly has had a hand in the success of Continental Resources. According to Hamm, dynamic company growth has been fueled by completions and production in two areas where horizontal drilling technology has made a difference – North Dakota’s Bakken and Three Forks and the SCOOP area in Oklahoma.

In 2007, Continental’s Bakken production was 8,580 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), and in 2013 production was 88,250 boe/d.

“Back in 2009, people would ask us about how much of the Bakken has been developed so far and I said back then maybe 12-13%. Now with the Three Forks and the lower benches, you can just about double the amount of wells being drilled. I’d have to say that now we’re less than 10% developed.”

From the company’s SCOOP assets, the 2010 daily production was 289 boe/d, and in 2013 the area produced a staggering 18,933 boe/d. The SCOOP is currently the fastest growing area of development by the company. By year-end 2014, Continental is projecting production of more than 20,000 boe/d.

Production has added to the company’s EBITDAX numbers, having achieved a record full-year total of $2.84 billion in 2013, which is up 45% over 2012. The adjusted earnings per share began in 2009 at $0.73, and in 2013 earnings are up to $5.33 per share.

Continental has been blessed by good oil prices, according to Hamm. “We’re not price-makers, we’re price-takers, and we’ve positioned ourselves with a good oil portfolio.”

Continental’s Hawkinson project is a new Three Forks development, and the company just completed an industry-first 1,320-foot, four-formation density test. At Hawkinson, the 14-well program is underway, and other tests are currently drilling or in the completion stage. Formations to be tested include Tangsrud, Rollefstad, Wahpeton, Mack, Lawrence and Hartman, with the concept of 1,320-foot spacings vs. 660-foot spacings.

”We had about a 14,000 barrel per day initial rate from the prospect, said Hamm. ”We did a lot of science here and it gave us a lot on information about fracs and proper treatment.”

In 2009, the company had a goal to triple production during the next five years. ”We accomplished that in about three and a half years. Our next goal is to again triple production over the next five years, and that would put us at over 300,000 boe/d and about 1.5 billion on crude reserves.”

”However, one of the biggest challenges remaining for the Bakken is infrastructure. We’d like to see the president and Congress pass the Keystone pipeline legislation, but we don’t think it will happen before 2016 and the elections. We think it will have to be built at some point and we like to think that the president would include the passage of this pipeline as part of his legacy.”