Devastating winter storms have ravaged Texas over the past week, leaving thousands of people in the state without power, water and heat in appalling conditions. Thousands were cold and hungry for days because of the storms.
The suffering for those in the community was an advantage for those producing oil and natural gas, with a rising price. What does this have to do with sports? Jerry Jones, a billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is one of the beneficiaries.
Bloomberg reported that Jones owns a majority stake in natural gas company Comstock Resources Inc., a Texas and Louisiana drilling company, and has been able to sell gas at premium prices since Thursday as demand jumps amid the cold. Jones’ gas business was able to achieve a huge increase, as will see much higher bills.
“This week is like hitting the jackpot with some of these incredible prizes,” said CFO Roland Burns. “To be honest, we were able to sell at a premium price for a significant amount of production.”
NPR noted that Comstock was already increasing production in anticipation that the price of natural gas would rise.
I see that Burns’ job is to make a profit for Comstock, but making money from a natural disaster because thousands of people are suffering seems almost as bad as driving to Cancun.
– Aron Yohannes