From Cowboys to Comstock for Jerry Jones

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is about to become a controlling owner of Comstock Resources Inc., an energy firm based in Frisco, Texas.

The company has announced it is buying Jones’ Bakken Shale interests in exchange for $620 million in company stock. Jones, whose Arkoma Drilling LP and Williston Drilling LP own the North Dakota land is to get 88.6 million Comstock shares.

Each share is worth $7 and it will give Jones an 84 percent stake in the company.  The deal is expected to be finalized in several weeks.

The land-for-share swap followed a move earlier in the month by Jones to make a $75 million purchase of 14 percent stake in Comstock.

The Bakken Shale land that Comstock is acquiring produces 10,500 barrels of oil and 20 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. The company expects generation of $200 million in cash a year from 332 producing oil wells. It also will acquire 128 drilled but uncompleted wells and 10 undrilled locations.