When it comes to putting the best foot forward in difficult times, Harold Hamm does so as surely as anyone in the U.S. oil industry.

Since oil prices began spiraling down last year, the CEO of Continental Resources has predicted a recovery sooner than many analysts would venture, and he’s sticking to that point of view even now as the cost of a barrel of crude has sunk to 12-year lows.

“The worst is over, I believe,” Hamm said the other day as oil markets struggled to take account of the escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran and turmoil in the Chinese economy. (Read more)