Article content

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who made and lost fortunes targeting some of the largest U.S. explorers over the past 40 years, has cashed out as the worst crude market downturn in decades drags on.

Pickens has sold all his oil holdings and is waiting for the best moment to get back in, he said Thursday in an interview on “Bloomberg Go.” With prices low, mid-size U.S. oil companies such as Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Apache Corp. are acquisition targets for larger firms like Exxon Mobil Corp., he said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens cashes out of crude as worst market in decades drags on Back to video

I will not re-enter until we start to draw on inventories. That’s a key point

Crude prices have slumped 70 per cent since June 2014, leading the oil industry to eliminate more than 250,000 jobs and slash over US$100 billion in spending in the last year, with more cuts expected this year. The reductions should lead to a drop in oil production, which would boost oil prices back to the US$50-$60 range by the end of the year as long as the economy doesn’t enter a recession, Pickens said.