Crude oil prices made slight gains Wednesday after a shutdown of two large oilfields in Kazakhstan, but in Oklahoma, the bigger story might be the sudden increase in natural gas prices as the state braces for an expected strong winter storm.
Natural gas prices soared 25% on Tuesday and by late Wednesday afternoon, they were up another 28%, reminding consumers of the 2021 Winter storm that resulted in gas prices hitting $1,200 MMbtu and lawsuits in Kansas and Oklahoma against natural gas suppliers.
Natural gas closed at $4.994 MMBtu after a gain of $1.087 or 27.82%.
Brent futures, the global benchmark, rose 32 cents or 0.5% to settle at $65.24 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the standard in the U.S., gained 26 cents or 0.4% and finished at $60.762 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Elsewhere in the country, oil from the vast Kashagan field has been diverted to the domestic market for the first time due to bottlenecks at the Black Sea CPC terminal, four industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday after equipment at the terminal was seriously damaged in drone attacks.
Wednesday was a strong day for Oklahoma energy stocks as all but one recorded a gain in trading and the lone exception saw no change from the previous day’s settled price.
LSB Industries led all with a more than 7% increase for the day followed closely by Empire Petroleum’s 6% gain.
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