Crude oil prices gained about 1% in Wednesday’s trading while Oklahoma energy stocks had a stronger day with one oil company seeing a nearly 15% gain for the day.
Growing U.S. crude inventories also dampened any hopes for higher demand.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 64 cents or 0.8% to settle at $77.69 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, managed a 1% gain on an 86 cent increase to $84.31 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
April natural gas rose 6 cents to $2.81 per 1,000 cubic feet.
U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels last week to 480.2 million barrels last week to the highest since May 2021, government data showed, beating analyst expectations of a 457,000-barrel rise. It was the 10th straight weekly increase.
For most Oklahoma energy companies, Wednesday was a day of gains including a nearly 15% jump for Gulfport Energy Corp. on the heels of its 4th quarter earnings report this week. Ovintiv recorded a nearly 6% gain.
APA Corp. (Apache) (APA) up 1.25 at 39.63 – change 3.25%
Cheniere (LNG) up 3.45 at 160.79 – change 2.19%
Chevron (CVX) up 1.28 at 162.05 – change 0.79%
ConocoPhillips (COP) up 2.90 at 106.25 – change 2.80%
Diamondback Energy (FANG) up 4.04 at 144.62 – change 2.87%
Energy Transfer LP (ET) up 0.13 at 12.79 – change 1.02%
Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) up 0.09 at 25.62 – change 0.35%
EOG Resources (EOG) up 4.99 at 118.01 – change 4.41%
ExxonMobil (XOM) up 0.98 at 110.89 – change 0.89%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) up 0.20 at 17.26 – change 1.17%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) up 0.64 at 25.79 – change 2.54%
NOV Inc. (NOV) up 0.34 at 22.22 – change 1.55%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 1.14 at 59.71 – change 1.96%
Phillips 66 (PSX) up 4.68 at 107.24 – change 4.56%
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) up 5.01 at 205.43 – change 2.50%
Tellurian Inc. (TELL) down 0.01 at 1.48 – change 0.68%
Valero (VLO) up 7.56 at 139.29 – change 5.73%
CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS
American Electric Power (AEP) down 1.61 at 86.36 – change 1.84%
CenterPoint (CNP) down 0.46 at 27.36 – change 1.66%
Entergy (ETR) down 1.45 at 101.42 – change 1.41%