Oil ends higher to log July gain

 

A day after oil futures ended higher with West Texas Intermediate crude in the U.S. settling back above $40 a barrel, OPEC loosened some of its production curbs by an estimated 2 million barrels a day. The expected rise in supplies as major producers relaxed their output restrictions was seen as the cause of the slight increase in oil prices.

The impact of OPEC’s move will be felt in Monday’s trading in the U.S. where on Friday, WTI for September delivery rose 35 cents or 0.9% to close at $40.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

October Brent crude, considered the global benchmark grew 27 cents or 0.6% and finished the day at $43.52 a barrel in trading on ICE Futures Europe. For the month of July, WTI saw a gain of 2.6% while Brent rose more than 5%.

“Prices have rebounded, and they are currently near break-even levels for many producers — we believe this will encourage producers to bring back shut-in supply and even drill more, wrote analysts led by John LaForge at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, in a Friday note.

“The capacity to increase oil supply is significant both in the U.S. and abroad. Any price increase from current levels is likely to be met with an overeager deluge of supply,” they said. “This should keep a lid on oil prices moving meaningfully higher from current levels.”

Here is how some local and Oklahoma-related companies did in Friday’s trading:

SandRidge Energyup 40 cents at $1.30—change 3.17%

ConocoPhillips (COP) down 0.25 at 37.39 – change 0.67%

Devon (DVN) up 0.15 at 10.49 – change 1.45%

EOG Resources (EOG) up 0.27 at 46.85 – change 0.57%

ExxonMobil (XOM) up 0.21 at 42.08 – change 0.50%

Kinder Morgan (KMI) up 0.04 at 14.10 – change 0.30%

Mammoth Energyunchanged at $1.39

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) down 0.02 at 5.49 – change 0.37%

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) unchanged at 11.51 – change 0.00%

NGL Energy Partners down 15 cents at $4.41-change 3.29%

Noble Energy (NBL) down 0.23 at 9.99 – change 2.26%

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) down 0.03 at 15.74 – change 0.20%

ONEOK (OKE) down 0.20 at 27.91 – change 0.70%

Parsley Energy (PE) down 0.06 at 10.98 – change 0.55%

Phillips 66 (PSX) down 1.07 at 62.02 – change 1.70%

CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS

American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.81 at 86.88 – change 0.94%

CenterPoint (CNP) down 0.12 at 19.01 – change 0.63%

Entergy (ETR) up 0.49 at 105.13 – change 0.46%

Source: MarketWatch