It must be rough to be ol' Jerry Jones. All he has to show for in life is billions of dollars, ownership of a pro football team, unofficial control of a pro football league, and one measly megayacht. It seemed like nothing would ever go his way until this week, when millions of Texans lost power, gas, and water because of a neglected energy grid unable to handle freezing temperatures for an extended period of time.
Jones is the owner of Comstock Resources, Inc., a natural gas producer with headquarters in Frisco, Texas. Because of the disaster gripping the state, resulting in so many residents being cold, hungry, and poisoned by carbon monoxide, Comstock has been able to sell gas at a premium in East Texas and part of Louisiana. Someone can always benefit in a crisis, and this time it was the Dallas Cowboys owner, who recently played hardball with his quarterback over one year of a proposed contract.
From Sergio Chapa of Bloomberg:
Gas from Comstock’s Haynesville wells was sold on the spot market for between $15 and $179 per thousand cubic feet, chief financial officer Roland Burns said Wednesday on an earnings call. That translates to between $15.55 and $186 per million British thermal units.“This week is like hitting the jackpot with some of these incredible prices,“ Burns said. “Frankly, we were able to sell at super premium prices for a material amount of production.“
What an innovative way to think about it, looking at a problem as an opportunity. Jones and Burns might be dealing with high demand for natural gas now, but there'll be plenty of heat where they're going.
