13,000 Choose to Forgo Prudential Settlement : Litigation: The offer involves up to $120 million in cash for about 130,000 investors.

On the eve of today’s deadline, more than 13,000 investors have chosen not to participate in a revised settlement of a class-action lawsuit over Prudential Securities’ troubled oil and gas partnerships.

That is about 1,000 more investors than opted out of a much smaller settlement nearly a year ago.

The first offer--of $37 million in cash--was derailed last February by a federal judge. The new offer involves a maximum of $120 million in cash for the roughly 130,000 investors in Prudential’s Energy Income Funds.

In the 11 months since the original settlement fell apart, the partnerships have been sold to Parker & Parsley Petroleum for $491 million. That sum, along with the settlement and the cash distributions paid by the partnerships over the years, means investors would get back about 80% of their original investment.

But investors’ lawyers have said many customers still stand to do better by electing not to participate and instead pursuing one of two other options--arbitration against Prudential or a claim under a procedure established as part of Prudential’s $371-million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The deadline for mailing opt-out forms is midnight tonight, and the final count is expected to exceed the 13,253 received as of the most recent tally, completed midday Thursday, according to Edward A. Grossman, a lawyer for Prudential investors.