The biggest leaseholder in North Dakota’s booming oil fields said the crude shipped by rail to markets across the United States is safe, despite growing fears that crude from the Bakken formation is dangerously volatile. Regulators say that North Dakota crude should be treated more carefully after a number of trains carrying Bakken crude derailed and exploded over the past year. But Harold Hamm, the CEO of Continental Resources Inc, which is one of the pioneers in North Dakota drilling that ships crude by rail from North Dakota, said that as long as there are no accidents, the oil is not a threat. “Bakken oil is safe,” Hamm told reporters when asked if there was anything the company should be doing to make Bakken oil safer. “Anytime you don’t keep trains on the track bad things happen,” he said. “It’s like cars on the […]