Even a historic drop in U.S. crude stocks wasn’t enough to keep oil prices from dropping 2% on Wednesday as traders took no chances following the downgrade of the U.S. government’s top credit by a major ratings agency.
Despite the record stock draw, U.S. oil prices fell amid falls across financial markets after rating agency Fitch downgraded the U.S. government’s top credit rating reported Reuters.
West Texas Intermediate crude finished down $1.88 or 2.3% to $79.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Global benchmark Brent crude finished down $1.71 or 2% to $83.20 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Both contracts rose by more than $1 earlier on the session, buoyed by falling U.S. stockpiles in Tuesday’s data from the American Petroleum Industry, which also indicated a large U.S. stockpile drawdown.
September natural gas fell 8 cents to $2.48 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Oklahoma energy stocks suffered losses in Wednesday’s trading with Devon Energy leading on a more than 7% decline.
Other energy stocks were also down at the end of Wednesday’s trading day, according to the Texas Energy Report.
APA Corp. (Apache) (APA) down 1.23 at 39.01 – change 3.06%
Cheniere (LNG) down 1.12 at 159.13 – change 0.70%
Chevron (CVX) down 2.57 at 159.72 – change 1.59%
ConocoPhillips (COP) down 1.79 at 115.59 – change 1.53%
Diamondback Energy (FANG) down 1.10 at 146.79 – change 0.74%
Energy Transfer LP (ET) down 0.15 at 13.14 – change 1.06%
Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) down 0.13 at 26.57 – change 0.49%
EOG Resources (EOG) down 1.71 at 130.04 – change 1.30%
ExxonMobil (XOM) down 1.33 at 105.29 – change 1.25%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.20 at 17.36 – change 1.14%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) down 0.47 at 25.71 – change 1.80%
NOV Inc. (NOV) down 0.38 at 20.02 – change 1.87%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) down 1.17 at 61.47 – change 1.87%
Phillips 66 (PSX) down 3.12 at 108.99 – change 2.79%
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) up 3.26 at 227.94 – change 1.45%
Tellurian Inc. (TELL) down 0.03 at 1.62 – change 1.82%
Valero (VLO) down 1.44 at 126.31 – change 1.13%
CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS
American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.47 at 84.50 – change 0.55%
CenterPoint (CNP) up 0.25 at 29.74 – change 0.84%
Entergy (ETR) up 0.23 at 101.40 – change 0.22%
