COVID lockdowns spook crude oil traders

  • December 21, 2020

 

Word of spreading lockdowns by states and countries to prevent the growing spread of COVID-19 caused traders to back off investment in crude oil futures as prices fell. Oil prices fell more than 2% on news of a new coronavirus strain that forced government leaders in effect to cancel Christmas in much of Britain.

West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery dropped $1.36 or 2.77% to finish the day at $47.74 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Global benchmark Brent Crude for February delivery suffered a drop of $1.35 or 2.56% and ended the day at $50.91 a barrel in trading on ICE Futures Europe.

“Reports of a new strain of the coronavirus has weighed on risk sentiment and oil. New mobility restrictions across Europe are also not helping as European oil demand will suffer,” said UBS oil analyst Giovanni Staunovo reported CNBC news.

Of the Oklahoma energy companies that saw any positive sign in Monday’s trading, it was Tulsa’s Blueknight Energy Partners LP where stocks shot up 22% following a 39 cent increase before settling at $2.19 per share.

The jump in prices came on the heels of Blueknight’s announcement earlier in the day of its $162 million sale of its mostly oil and gas operations to Canada’s Enbridge Inc. and pipeline operations to CVR Energy.

Just last Friday, Blueknight’s shares were unchanged at $1.80.

Elsewhere, many Oklahoma stocks finished down for the day including Alliance Resource Partners, LP where there was an 18 cent loss or nearly 4% drop to $4.85. Chesapeake Energy Corporation lost 15 cents for a nearly 7% slide to $2.04. Cypress Environmental Partners LP dropped 3 cents for a 1.24% loss to $2.38 per share.

Devon Energy Corp lost 33 cents for a 2.11% drop to $15.30.  Enable Midstream Partners LP dropped 23 cents or more than 4% to $5.43. Gulfport Energy Corporation fell more than 8% to 6 cents a share.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. closed down 76 cents at $24.17 per share—a more than 3% loss. LSB Industries, Inc. slipped 4 cents or 1.42% to $2.77. Laredo Petroleum Inc fell 24 cents or 1.18% to $20.02.
Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. finished the day at $43.25 with a loss of $1.13 or nearly 3%. Matrix Service Co was one of the few to see a gain as it rose 22 cents or 2.24% to $10.05. NGL Energy Partners LP lost 8 cents or about 3% to $2.64.
OGE Energy Corp. closed down 65 cents for a 2.09% decline to $30.49. ONE Gas Inc fell $2.57 per share for a slide of 3.28% to $75.68. ONEOK, Inc. dropped 48 cents or 1.20% to $39.39.
 Ovintiv Inc closed down 52 cents at $14.38 for a loss of 3.49%. PHX Minerals Inc dropped 23 cents or more than 9% to $2.28. SandRidge Energy Inc. was unchanged at $3.15.
WPX Energy Inc dropped 17 cents for a 2.11% decline to $7.88  
Williams Companies Inc finished down 48 cents or 2.27% to $20.70.
Other energy stocks also had a down day, according to the Texas Energy Report.

Chevron (CVX) down 1.11 at 86.09 – change 1.27%

Concho Resources (CXO) down 0.99 at 58.57 – change 1.67%

ConocoPhillips (COP) down 0.74 at 40.24 – change 1.81%

Diamondback Energy (FANG) down 0.82 at 45.02 – change 1.79%

Energy Transfer LP (ET) down 0.18 at 6.60 – change 2.66%

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) down 0.34 at 20.22 – change 1.66%

EOG Resources (EOG) down 1.69 at 50.08 – change 3.27%

ExxonMobil (XOM) down 0.78 at 41.95 – change 1.83%

Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.22 at 13.99 – change 1.55%

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) down 0.18 at 6.55 – change 2.68%

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) down 0.40 at 13.30 – change 2.92%

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) down 1.05 at 17.47 – change 5.67%

Parsley Energy (PE) down 0.50 at 13.74 – change 3.52%

Phillips 66 (PSX) down 0.36 at 66.48 – change 0.54%

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) down 3.47 at 110.89 – change 3.04%

Valero (VLO) down 0.72 at 54.05 – change 1.32%

CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS

American Electric Power (AEP) down 1.17 at 82.12 – change 1.41%

CenterPoint (CNP) down 0.82 at 21.05 – change 3.75%

Entergy (ETR) down 3.00 at 97.02- change 3.00%

 

Jerry Bohnen