PECOS, Texas — A West Texas jury has awarded T. Boone Pickens $146 million in a fight over 160 oil wells.
The jury in Pecos on Wednesday ruled in favor of Pickens' company, Mesa Petroleum Partners, after a three-week trial.
Pickens had claimed two Midland-based energy companies and one from Dallas had conspired to cheat him out of ownership interests and profits involving more than 160 wells in Reeves and Pecos counties.
Jay Rosser, a spokesman for Pickens, says the Texas tycoon maintained that Mesa's oil and gas interests were taken illegally.
Paul Rudnicki, chief financial officer of Dallas-based J. Cleo Thompson, says his company believes the evidence doesn't support the verdict that the firm breached the joint operating agreement.