Continental Resources, Inc. is an American petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Oklahoma City. The company was founded by Harold Hamm in 1967 at the age of 21 as Shelly Dean Oil Company, originally named for Hamm's two daughters. In 1990, Shelly Dean re-branded itself as Continental Resources. It primarily used hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling to produce from low permeability formations. In May 2007, the company became a public company but in November 2022, the company was acquired by affiliates of Harold Hamm.

In 1967, Harold Hamm founded Shelly Dean Oil Co., Continental's predecessor.

In 1990, the company was renamed Continental Resources.

In 1995, the company discovered what was later described as the Cedar Hills Field in North Dakota, the 7th largest onshore field in the lower 48 United States ranked by liquid proved reserves, and was the first to develop it exclusively through precision horizontal drilling.

In 2003, the company drilled its first wells in the Bakken formation.

In 2004, the company completed the Robert Heuer 1-17R in Divide County, the 1st commercially successful well in the North Dakota Bakken to be both horizontally drilled and completed using hydraulic fracturing.

In 2007, the company became a public company via an initial public offering in which Harold Hamm sold approximately $300 million worth of his shares.

In 2008, the company was the first to complete a horizontal well in the Three Forks zone.