While the U.S. dollar steadied on Tuesday, oil futures recorded their lowest finish in more than a week and many Oklahoma oil and gas firms followed suit with declining prices of their shares.
West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery dropped 56 cents or nearly 1.4% to settle at $41.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. WTI earlier had posted a nearly 0.8% gain on Monday.
Global benchmark September Brent crude fell 19 cents or 0.4% at $43.22 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, the lowest finish since July 17.
Prices were affected by the U.S. dollar which was up a day after hitting a two year low. The weaker dollar can support commodities priced in the currency, making them less expensive to purchasers using other currencies.
“So far, this week’s price movement appears determined to continue the limited momentum and general lack of volatility that has characterized global oil markets for much of the last two months, despite the continuation of several significant risk factors,” said Robbie Fraser, senior commodity analyst at Schneider Electric told MarketWatch.
“COVID-19 of course still stands out as the most important risk factor for crude and markets at large,” he said in a daily note. “Rising case counts in parts of the world continue to trouble investors, while improving supply/demand conditions and promising early vaccine trials have sometimes tempered those concerns.”
On average, the EIA is expected to report a decline of 1.2 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended July 24, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. The survey also showed a forecast for a decline of 2 million barrels in gasoline inventories and pegged distillate supplies at unchanged for the week.
Natural gas prices in Tuesday’s trading finished the day up 7 cents or 3.81% and settled at $1.80 per MMBtu.
Here is how some of the Oklahoma firms and others did in Tuesday’s trading:
ConocoPhillips (COP) down 0.81 at 38.96 – change 2.04%
Devon (DVN) down 0.09 at 10.34 – change 0.87%
EOG Resources (EOG) down 1.29 at 47.27 – change 2.66%
ExxonMobil (XOM) down 0.52 at 43.55 – change 1.18%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.08 at 14.12 – change 0.57%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) down 0.10 at 5.53 – change 1.78%
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) down 1.43 at 11.56 – change 11.01%
Noble Energy (NBL) down 0.30 at 10.60 – change 2.76%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) down 0.35 at 16.35 – change 2.10%
ONEOK (OKE) up 0.04 at 28.06 – change 0.14%
Phillips 66 (PSX) down 1.01 at 63.58 – change 1.57%
CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS
American Electric Power (AEP) up 1.48 at 84.74 – change 1.77%