(By Mayur Pahilajani - iStockAnalyst Writer)
Energy stocks rebounded on Thursday on rising crude prices despite the U.S. Energy Department's report that nation's natural gas stockpiles have gone up by 67 billion cubic feet for the week ended Sept. 12.
The market analysts speculate that the rise in the energy sector is due to the weaker greenback and a decline in U.S. crude-oil stockpiles that declined the most in fourth months due to supply disruption caused by Hurricane Gustav and Ike.
The U.S. gulf holds around 4,000 offshore oil and gas platforms, of which as many as 100 of them were severely damaged in 2005 by Katrina and Rita. The U.S. Energy Department reported yesterday that the inventories fell 6.33 million barrels to 291.7 million barrels last week.
Among energy producers, shares of Patterson Uti Energy Inc (NASDAQ GS: PTEN) were rising by 4.85 percent or $0.96 to $20.75 at 11.42 am ET. Eog Res Inc (NYSE: EOG) shares snapped on Thursday to rise by $2.28 or 2.57 percent at $91.09, followed by Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN) that was adding 5.14 percent or $1.58 to $32.31.
Devon Energy Corp New (NYSE: DVN) is one of the company that has managed to restore some of its oil production from the damaged Gulf of Mexico after its platforms were toppled by Hurricane Ike. Shares of the firm were trading higher by 4.25 percent or $3.99 to $97.84 in New York.
XTO Energy Inc (NYSE: XTO) was rising on Thursday after oil started upward momentum during early morning trading session. At 11:46am ET, shares of the company were trading up by $0.61 or 1.20 percent at $51.60.
Shares of the Amex Oil Index (NYSE: XOI) traded up by 0.3 percent or $3.85 to $1,154.58 today, after falling more than 6 percent over thee week. While the Amex Natural Gas Index (NYSE: XNG) was trading up by 1.6 percent or $8.27 at $529.14, after it climbed up by 2.7 percent during early trading.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (NYSE: $OSX) also surged by 1.7 percent to $251 during early trading and was recently moving slightly down by 0.1 percent or $0.20 to $246.23 at 11.48 a.m. ET.
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) stayed up after the bell, rising up by 1.6 percent to $76.51 at 11.49 a.m. ET. on Thursday, on reports that the firm has restored its Baytown refinery following shut down due to Ike. The firm said its second refinery in Beaumont will remain shut till the facility is restored.
While, Petrochina Co Ltd (NYSE: PTR) was moving up by 3.19 percent or $2.96 to $95.75 at 11:56am ET, recovering from a recent turmoil in the financial market. Several companies in the energy sector had lost as much as 10 percent, following 15 percent of drop over the last few weeks as the prices fell below $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April.
Oil for October delivery climbed as much as 63 cents at $97.79 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex in New York, during morning trading session. The contract had surged to as much as $102.24 earlier in the session.
The contract had surged by $6.01, which is crude's second biggest daily jump, to $97.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange over rising financial concerns on Wednesday. On April 3, crude had settled at $103.83 a barrel in New York, while on July 11, oil hit a record high price of $147.27 a barrel.
Additional bounce in oil prices following the reports that the militants in Nigeria have attacked an oil refinery, which will cut down a daily production of 280,000 barrels to the global market. The country produced an average 2.13 million barrels per day in the year 2007 and it was listed as number 13 among biggest producer in the world.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery also climbed by $2.89 or 3.1 percent to $97.73 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. On Thursday, Gold futures surged by $32.90 to $883.40 an ounce in electronic trading, a day after rising up by $70 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
