Crude oil prices gained on drop in gasoline supplies

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 55 cents or 0.75% to finish at $73.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Global benchmark Brent crude finished 62 cents higher or 0.79% at $79.21 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

The increase in crude was sparked by a 3.15 million barrel drop last week in US gasoline stocks. Analysts were way off in their estimated which they figured would be an increase of 140,000 barrels.

March natural gas was unchanged at $2.08 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Other energy stocks were mixed according to the Texas Energy Report.

APA Corp. (Apache) (APA) up 0.03 at 30.55 – change 0.09%

Cheniere (LNG) down 0.18 at 160.08 – change 0.12%

Chevron (CVX) down 0.22 at 152.13 – change 0.15%

ConocoPhillips (COP) up 0.80 at 112.32 – change 0.71%

Diamondback Energy (FANG) down 0.54 at 151.44 – change 0.36%

Energy Transfer LP (ET) down 0.08 at 13.90 – change 0.51%

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) up 0.02 at 26.25 – change 0.07%

EOG Resources (EOG) up 0.64 at 112.52 – change 0.57%

Exxon Mobil (XOM) down 0.03 at 102.22 – change 0.03%

Kinder Morgan (KMI) down 0.04 at 16.64 – change 0.24%

Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) up 0.16 at 22.69 – change 0.71%

NOV Inc. (NOV) down 0.33 at 17.19 – change 1.89%

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) up 0.05 at 57.62 – change 0.08%

Phillips 66 (PSX) up 0.62 at 146.53 – change 0.42%

Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) down 0.29 at 227.76 – change 0.13%

Tellurian Inc. (TELL) up 0.01 at 0.48 – change 3.07%

Valero (VLO) up 3.35 at 141.18 – change 2.43%

CLOSING TOP UTILITY STOCKS

American Electric Power (AEP) up 0.10 at 77.33 – change 0.12%

CenterPoint (CNP) down 0.04 at 27.57 – change 0.15%

Entergy (ETR) down 0.69 at 98.76 – change 0.70%