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.
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%