After two consecutive sessions of a drop in prices, crude oil on Thursday rose nearly 2% to settle at $38.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. West Texas Intermediate crude for August rose 71 cents for the session.
Global benchmark Brent crude for August delivery was up $1.17 or 1.8% to hit $41.05 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Natural gas prices fell 11 cents or 7.2% to settle at $1.48 per MMBtu.
Worries about the daily rate of increase in new coronavirus cases in the U.S. and other countries are taking a toll on expectations for demand for crude and keeping prices lower for the week.
Some improvement in U.S. economic data and comments from a White House officials helped to calm traders’ nerves over the short-term prospects for the economy.
“A big jump in durable goods and assurances by White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow that the U.S. was not going to shut the economy down gave us a boost,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group.
Several local stocks of interest also rebounded for the day with Chesapeake Energy seeing a 9.13% increase or $1.07 a share before ending the day at $12.78.
Devon Energy finished up 45 cents or 4% to finish at $11.70 while SandRidge Energy added only one cent, ending at $1.26 per share.
ConocoPhillips rose 3% or $107 to finish at $42.06 while EOG Resources added 4% or $1.78 before ending at $50.73 a share.
Marathon Oil rose 19 cents or 3.2% to settle at $5.98. ONEOK finished up 40 cents or 1.2% at $32.70.
Phillips 66 ended at $70.06 a share, an increase of 8 cents.
On the Utilities Sector, American Electric Power fell 2% or $1.41 a share before settling at $79.30.