As traders awaited the latest data on U.S. crude supplies, oil futures were unchanged in the U.S. and made only a 9-cent gain overseas. They also are paying close attention to a meeting of an OPEC+ panel which has the charge of monitoring the effect of production cuts by major producers.
In trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for September closed with no change at the end of Tuesday’s trading, finishing at $42.89 a barrel.
Global benchmark October Brent crude settled up 9 cents or 0.2% at $45.56 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Crude gained ground Monday, buoyed in part by reports that compliance with output cuts by members of OPEC+ — made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, notably Russia — ran at a historically high 94% to 97% in July, according to surveys. OPEC+’s Joint Technical Committee, which met Monday, pegged compliance at 95%, analysts said reported MarketWatch.
The OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which makes recommendations on output, is set to meet Wednesday, but is largely expected to take a wait-and-see approach after members in August went ahead with a plan to scale back output cuts from 9.7 million barrels a day to 7.7 million barrels a day, albeit with some producers who had failed to abide by earlier restrictions agreeing to maintain deeper cuts.
“Compliance with the previous cuts has been high though which will reinforce confidence in any future action that may be necessary but for now, the best thing for the group may be to just hold fire as further setbacks in the coming months are inevitable, again,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note.
Traders will also be looking toward data on U.S. supplies. The American Petroleum Institute is expected to release its weekly take on crude inventories after the closing bell Tuesday, while the Energy Information Administration’s more closely followed weekly data is due Wednesday morning.
Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA data to show U.S. crude supplies fell 3.8 million barrels last week, while gasoline stocks are expected to show a decline of 2 million barrels. Distillate supplies are forecast to fall 900,000 barrels.
Local energy firms saw a drop in trading on Tuesday. Devon Energy dropped 3.41% or 40 cents a share to finish at $11.34. SandRidge Energy slipped one cent or 0.53% to $1.87 per share.
Continental Resources finished 22 cents or 1.20% down at $18.15. Ovintiv Inc. ended the day down 27 cents or 2.20% at $12.02.
Cypress Environmental dropped 3 cents or 1.18% to end the day at $2.53. Williams Companies had a 55 cent or 2.44% drop to $21.80. Mammoth Energy Services had a 4 cent or 2.45% slip to $1.59.
Helmerich and Payne experienced a 3.18% or 59 cent drop to $17.98. Chesapeake Energy ended the day at $6.60, a drop of 9 cents or 1.38%.
Alliance Resource Partners L.P. suffered a drop of 36 cents or 9.40% to settle at $3.47. One of the few to see a gain, although a minimal one, was OGE Energy as shares ended up one cent for a 0.031% gain to $32.45.
ConocoPhillips (COP) down 0.37 at 40.33 – change 0.91%
Diamondback Energy (FANG) down 0.59 at 44.49 – change 1.31%
Energy Transfer LP (ET) down 0.10 at 6.49 – change 1.52%
EOG Resources (EOG) down 0.19 at 46.35 – change 0.41%
ExxonMobil (XOM) down 0.21 at 42.43 – change 0.50%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.06 at 14.38 – change 0.42%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) up 0.03 at 5.95 – change 0.50%
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) down 0.19 at 12.57 – change 1.49%
Noble Energy (NBL) down 0.27 at 10.31 – change 2.56%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 0.04 at 13.95 – change 0.28%
ONEOK (OKE) down 0.90 at 28.08 – change 3.11%
Phillips 66 (PSX) down 1.05 at 61.31 – change 1.69%
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) down 0.91 at 107.70 – change 0.84%
Valero (VLO) down 0.86 at 54.74 – change 1.55%
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CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS
American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.32 at 81.55 – change 0.39%
Source: MarketWatch
