HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- A Texas elected official Friday requested an investigation into oil well sabotage in a rural part of the state by Exxon Mobil Corp. and said the world's largest publicly traded oil company could be liable for more than $1 billion in penalties. Jerry Patterson, commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, said that the oil giant intentionally filled the wells with toxic sludge and explosives in their "irrefutable, intentional and flagrant violations of state rules." Exxon had tried to pay less for drilling rights on the land owned by a local family, and when they did not get their way, this vandalism and mining of wells was intended to make sure nobody else could tap the wells either.