Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could soon own a controlling stake in Frisco oil and gas explorer Comstock Resources Inc.

Comstock announced Thursday that it signed a letter of intent to buy Jones' Bakken Shale interests in exchange for $620 million of the company's stock. The North Dakota land is owned by Jones' Arkoma Drilling LP and Williston Drilling LP.

Jones' companies will be paid in 88.6 million Comstock shares worth $7 each, representing an 84 percent stake in the company. Comstock said it expects the deal to close in the next several weeks.

Earlier this month, Jones invested $75 million for a 14 percent stake in Comstock. He said at the time that he missed out on $600 million in profits when he failed to invest in the company in 1999.

Jones' Bakken Shale land produces 10,500 barrels of oil and 20 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. The properties, which Comstock said will generate $200 million in cash flow this year, include 332 producing oil wells, 128 drilled but uncompleted wells and 10 undrilled locations.

"I am excited to be partnering with Comstock by contributing my oil and gas properties to Comstock, which will allow them to strengthen their balance sheet," Jones said in the company's announcement.

Comstock has been working for the last several years to get a grip on its debt. CEO M. Jay Allison said cash from the deal would be used to expand its drilling program in the high-return Haynesville shale play in East Texas and northwest Louisiana.

"The strong balance sheet resulting from the combination will allow us to play offense after spending the last three years on defense," Allison said in the statement.

The deal was greeted enthusiastically by Wall Street. Comstock shares jumped 47 percent Thursday to close at $7.

Jones' early oil investments helped him build a fortune that allowed him to snap up the then-struggling Dallas Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million. The Cowboys are now the world's most valuable sports franchise — worth an estimated $4.2 billion in Forbes' annual ranking.

The billionaire's first brush with the oil industry was back in the 1970s in Arkansas, where Jones founded Jones Oil and Land Lease. About a decade later, Jones founded Arkoma Production Co.

Jones' big break came in 1986, when Arkoma sold land with natural gas reserves to Arkansas utility Arkla for $175 million. Jones had bought the same land four years earlier from the utility for $15 million, according to The Dallas Morning News archives.