Thomas Boone Pickens: Advocate of Renewable and Alternative Energy

T. Boone Pickens was popular because he founded the hedge fund BP Capital Management (BP stands for Boone Pickens) and his advocacy for the US to be independent from foreign oil by promoting renewable and alternative sources of power. Forbes magazine named him as one of the richest Americans.

Thomas Boone Pickens was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma on May 22, 1928. He was a successful entrepreneur as a young boy when he expanded the route of his paper deliveries from 28 to 156.

The Pickens family moved to Amarillo, Texas in the late 30s. There, he finished his degree in geology in 1951 at Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma State University. He worked with Philips Petroleum until 1954, when he started venturing in oil explorations. Pickens founded the Mesa Petroleum in 1956.

Mesa grew in leaps and bounds. Eventually, Mesa purchased Hugoton Production Company, which was 30 times larger than Mesa at that time. The growth of Mesa was spectacular, making it one of the biggest independent oil firms in the world by 1981. Pickens had several acquisitions after Hugoton, which included Philips Petroleum, Gulf Oil and Diamond Shamrock. While it is true that Pickens did not succeed in all his takeovers, yet he earned the reputation of ruthlessly attempting to acquire new businesses.

                                                                          

Pickens established BP Capital management in 1989 when he transferred Mesa to Dallas. BP Capital Management has two hedge funds, Capital Equity and Capital Commodity which deals with natural gas and oil. Pickens’ stakes at BP has given him a whopping $2.7 billion in returns in 2007.

Pickens founded the Pickens Fuel Corporation in 1997 to promote cleaner fuel alternative for cars using natural gas. The company was the result of his extensive researches on the oil industry. According to his research, the world’s supply of oil is declining and that investments for alternative fuel should begin. Pickens changed his company’s name to Clean Energy in2001.

Pickens also planned the world’s biggest wind farm. This wind farm is capable of producing four gigawatts of electricity. He also introduced a proposal to promote other sources of energy such as solar, wind and natural gas as a way to reinvent the resources of US energy. The plan is also a great way to provide employment in the areas known as Great Plains.