Full of energy: twenty years after he first shook up corporate America and graced the covers of major business magazines, T. Boone Pickens is still getting a lot of press.

Publication: Oil and Gas Investor

Publication Date: 01-SEP-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Hart Publications, Inc.

As the chairman of BP Capital LP, a more than $2-billion hedge-fund outfit, investor and oilman T. Boone Pickens oversees 22 employees who are managing a lot of dollars.

So when we met with him in Dallas in July, it was no surprise that Pickens kept a watchful eye on his computer screen as his papillon, Murdock, wandered in and out of the office. Oil and gas markets have been interesting to watch this year--the previous day, oil had gone up 4%; two days later, it fell 4%.

But by all measures, Pickens' team has done all right. An investor who placed $1 million in BP Capital Commodity Fund at inception in 1999 has seen a return of $28 million.

Meanwhile, BP Capital Energy Equity Fund I, closed in December 2004, returned 36. 7% (before fees) in this year's first quarter. For all of 2004, it gained 62.6%; the year before, 141.6% (before fees). An initial investment of $1 million in Fund I was worth close to $3.6 million net of fees by March 2005.

A second fund started in February of this year, returned 24.2% net in the first quarter.

Of course, high oil and gas prices made this possible, but Pickens has been investing in commodity markets successfully his whole career, in addition to running an E&P company he founded in 1956 and sold in 1997. In May, he predicted oil would go to $50 a barrel before it fell to $30. Later in 2004, he said it would hit $60 before it would be $40. In speeches around the country, he has said he thinks...

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