As crude oil prices dropped about 2% in Tuesday’s trading, Oklahoma energy stocks finished the day split between those recording gains and those with losses.
Concerns in two areas led the way for falling oil prices. One was the pending decision on U.S. interest rates and the other is the continuing worry about whether peace between Russia and Ukraine might mean increased global supplies of crude oil. Adding to the decline in prices was the restored production of Lukoil’s West Qurna 2 oilfield in Iraq, one of the world’s largest.
Brent crude futures settled down 55 cents, or 0.88%, at $61.94 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 63 cents, or 1.07%, to $58.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It was another day of losses for natural gas prices as they dropped nearly 7% following a similar day on Monday. Prices closed at $4.574 MMBtu, down $0.338 or 6.88%.
Tuesday proved to be another split day for Oklahoma energy stocks. Matrix Service Co. had the largest gain at 3% while Mammoth Energy led those with losses at about 2%.