Crude oil prices took a dramatic plunge in Thursday’s trading

 

Crude oil prices took a major plunge on Thursday dropping nearly 7% and $5 a barrel in trading in the US. It was the fifth straight session for a decline as prices finished at their lowest in more than two weeks.

 

West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery dropped $4.60 to $60 a barrel. That was a drop of 8.19% for the US benchmark in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones Market Data reported it was the largest one-day percentage loss since Sept. 8.

Global benchmark Brent crude for May delivery fell $4.72 to $63.28 a barrel in trading on ICE Futures Europe. It represented a 6.9% loss and was the largest daily percentage loss since June of 2020.

Some analysts blamed the price plunge on worries of investors about the increased tensions between the U.S. and Russia along with the slowdown in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Europe.

“U.S.-Russia tensions are increasing, with the U.S. threatening sanctions on Russia,” Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, told MarketWatch. “One way Russia could retaliate is to target shale producers by flooding the market with oil.”

April natural gas fell 5 cents to $2.48 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The bad day for crude prices rippled down to Oklahoma energy stocks resulting in losses for most firms.

Laredo Petroleum suffered a nearly 14% loss for the day as its shares dropped $5.29 or 13.82% to finish Thursday at $32.99.

Ovintiv Inc lost 8.28% on a $2.19 fall to $24.27.
Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. lost 2.80% on a 17 cent drop to $5.90.
Blueknight Energy Partners LP dropped 11 cents for a 3.37% loss to $3.15.
Chesapeake Energy closed $1.78 down to $43.50 for a loss of nearly 4%.
Cimarex Energy Co fell $3.63 for a 5.73% loss to $59.72.
Continental Resources lost 7.54% on a fall of $2.07 to $25.38.
Cypress Environmental Partners went down 25 cents for a 7.42% loss to $3.12.
Devon Energy lost 5.57% on a fall of $1.32 to $22.36.
Enable Midstream Partners closed 29 cents down at $6.67 for a 4.17% loss.
Gulfport Energy lost 4.64% and closed at $0.072 cents.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. fell $1.84 to close at $30.26 with a loss of 5.73%.
LSB Industry increased one cent to $4.81 for a very slight gain of 0.21%.
Magellan Midstream Partners lost 1.48% on a 67 fall to $44.71.
Mammoth Energy Services closed down 39 cents at $5.33 for a loss of nearly 7%.
Matrix Service Co finished down 58 cents for a 4.12% loss to $13.50.
NGL Energy Partners finished with a 2 cent drop to $2.33 and a loss of nearly 1%.
OGE Energy Corp closed up 10 cents at $32.49 for a gain of 0.31%.
ONE Gas Inc dropped 11 cents to $74.71 for a loss of 0.15%.
ONEOK fell $2.13 to $48.20 and a loss of 4.23%.
PHX Minerals closed at $3.04 with a drop of 14 cents and a loss of 4.40%.
SandRidge Energy lost 4.83% on a 20 cent fall to $3.94.
Williams Companies Inc had a 2.69% loss on a 63 cent drop to $22.76.
The Texas Energy Report showed other energy stocks across the country also didn’t have a good day on Thursday.

Chevron (CVX) down 3.91 at 104.12 – change 3.62%

ConocoPhillips (COP) down 3.45 at 53.38 – change 6.08%

Diamondback Energy (FANG) down 6.24 at 75.17 – change 7.67%

Energy Transfer LP (ET) down 0.37 at 7.77 – change 4.55%

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) down 0.84 at 22.29 – change 3.64%

EOG Resources (EOG) down 4.29 at 68.90 – change 5.87%

ExxonMobil (XOM) down 2.56 at 56.81 – change 4.32%

Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.46 at 15.76 – change 2.84%

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) down 0.98 at 10.68 – change 8.41%

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) down 0.58 at 15.15 – change 3.69%

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) down 2.42 at 26.62 – change 8.34%

Phillips 66 (PSX) down 4.09 at 81.37 – change 4.79%

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) down 7.39 at 161.88 – change 4.37%

Valero (VLO) down 5.44 at 73.70 – change 6.88%

CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS

American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.48 at 82.60 – change 0.58%

CenterPoint (CNP) down 0.33 at 21.94 – change 1.49%

Entergy (ETR) down 0.89 at 98.05 – change 0.90%