Comstock Resources Inc., a natural gas company owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, will sell its assets in the Bakken Basin, North Dakota, to Northern Oil and Gas Inc. for $ 145 million, the company said Thursday.

Northern Oil and Gas will receive unoperated interests in more than 400 wells with recent production of more than 4,500 net barrels of oil equivalent per day. Comstock expects a pre-tax loss of $ 130 million to $ 140 million on the sale, the company said.

The Frisco-based company plans to reinvest the proceeds from the cash sale in its Haynesville Shale development program, including accelerating the completion of 13 wells, originally scheduled to be completed in 2022.

The Haynesville Shale in southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, and east Texas doesn’t produce much oil, but it is the third largest natural gas basin in the country.

According to Reuters, oil and gas companies are trying to sell assets to take advantage of a surge in commodity prices and increase cash reserves for dividends and buybacks to counter investor pressure.

Oil and gas companies struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel ceased, but the industry is recovering to pre-pandemic norms. Comstock posted a loss of more than $ 52 million last year, a sharp drop from its profit of nearly $ 97 million in 2019.

A Comstock Resources executive sparked a backlash earlier this year when he said the company hit the jackpot During this year’s winter storm, we took advantage of a spike in fuel prices as the Texas power grid struggled to keep up with demand, leaving millions without electricity.

Jones investment in the company surged to $ 1.1 billion in 2019 when Comstock Covey acquired Park Energy to double its stake in Haynesville.

Clockwise from top left: Alice Walton, Jerry Jones, Elon Musk and Andy Beal are among the richest Texans according to the Forbes annual ranking in 2021.