Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Defends $1.5 Billion Natural Gas Bet

(Bloomberg) -- Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, said his bet on shale gas in the southern U.S. is well placed even after prices slumped.

Domestic natural gas is down 19% this year amid a supply glut. Despite that, Jones’s Comstock Resources Inc. bought Covey Park Energy LLC in July to add operations in the Haynesville shale basin. The area is close to the coast and convenient for the export of natural gas liquids, Jones said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The Haynesville is “the most efficient place in the world to have natural gas and our market is right there,” said Jones, 76. “Comstock fits and checks all the boxes. I’m excited. Consequently, I put over $1.5 billion of my personal money into this area.”

Comstock shares rose as much as 20%, their biggest intraday gain since April last year. Jones controls 75% of the company, and his fortune rose by about $100 million Wednesday to $6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s the 103rd-richest American.

Comstock is competitive despite the challenges in the gas sector, Jones added. “The industry does not in any way dictate the promise of the individual or company in the industry,” he said.

--With assistance from Pierre Paulden.

To contact the reporters on this story: Simon Casey in New York at scasey4@bloomberg.net;Vonnie Quinn in New York at vquinn@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada

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