Oil tycoon Pickens’ energy holdings slump as downturn drags on

DAVID WETHE and REBECCA PENTY

DALLAS, Texas (Bloomberg) -- Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens reversed course in the third-quarter by slimming down his energy holdings and selling several companies he’d bought just three months earlier as the worst crude market downturn in decades drags on.

The value of energy stocks held by his Dallas-based TBP Investments Management LLC fell by more than half in the quarter to $35.6 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. TBP exited stakes in 13 companies, including smaller oilfield contractors Pioneer Energy Services Corp., C&J Energy Services Ltd. and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. Many of the positions Pickens sold were stakes he had bought in the second-quarter.

TBP also sold off smaller positions in exploration companies Apache Corp., and Occidental Petroleum Corp. By exiting Apache in the third quarter, Pickens missed out on the company’s recent improvement, as the Houston-based producer has climbed 27% since Oct. 1. Much of the surge came on news last week that it had been approached by a buyer.

By exiting his position in Suncor Energy Inc., Pickens has sold out of Canada’s oil sands, which is one of the world’s most expensive sources of crude supply. Suncor is the largest Canadian energy company and the biggest oil-sands producer.

TBP added stakes in three new exploration companies: Whiting Petroleum Corp., PDC Energy Inc. and Synergy Resources Corp.

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, said last month that a recovery might not come until 2017. Three months ago, CEO Paal Kibsgaard had said he thought the industry had already seen the worst of the U.S. oil rout. Oil service providers were the first to cut spending and jobs after prices began falling last year, and their group has been the hardest-hit segment of the oil industry.