A strike that shut down Libya’s top oilfield added to growing Middle East tensions about global oil supplies and sent crude oil prices up nearly 3% on Wednesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.32 or 3.3% to close at $72.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude gained $2.36 or 3.1% to reach $78.25 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Both crude benchmarks settled higher for the for the first time in five days with the biggest daily percentage gain for WTI since mid November.
February natural gas rose 10 cents to $2.67 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Oklahoma energy stocks were split in Wednesday’s trading and some still recorded strong gains for the day including Williams Cos. at more than 2% while Vital Energy gained nearly 4%.
Cheniere (LNG) down 0.05 at 169.36 – change 0.03%
Chevron (CVX) up 2.85 at 152.33 – change 1.90%
ConocoPhillips (COP) up 2.34 at 119.93 – change 1.98%
Diamondback Energy (FANG) up 3.16 at 160.16 – change 2.01%
Energy Transfer LP (ET) up 0.14 at 14.02 – change 1.00%
Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) up 0.36 at 27.00 – change 1.35%
EOG Resources (EOG) up 3.38 at 124.98 – change 2.77%
Exxon Mobil (XOM) up 0.86 at 103.22 – change 0.84%
Kinder Morgan (KMI) up 0.22 at 18.05 – change 1.23%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) up 0.51 at 24.93 – change 2.08%
NOV Inc. (NOV) up 0.16 at 20.32 – change 0.79%
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 0.56 at 60.01 – change 0.93%
Phillips 66 (PSX) up 1.46 at 135.75 – change 1.08%
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) up 2.09 at 232.37 – change 0.90%
Tellurian Inc. (TELL) down 0.04 at 0.70 – change 5.09%
Valero (VLO) up 3.08 at 133.74 – change 2.35%
CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS
American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.20 at 83.38 – change 0.24%
CenterPoint (CNP) up 0.12 at 29.13 – change 0.41%
Entergy (ETR) up 0.43 at 103.07 – change 0.41%