Oil prices climb as Middle East flare-ups lift risk of supply disruption
Crude futures were on track to notch back-to-back gains...
Crude futures were on track to notch back-to-back gains on Thursday, with prices finding support from growing tensions in the Middle East that raise the risk of supply disruptions in the oil-rich region.
A weekly fall in U.S. gasoline demand reported by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, meanwhile, fed concerns over the economy's outlook and energy demand, contributing to losses in oil prices for the month to date.
-- West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery rose 94 cents, or 1.4%, to $68.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead of the contract's expiration at the end of the session. The May WTI contractwas up 99 cents, or 1.5%, at $67.90.
-- May Brent crude was up 64 cents, or 0.9%, at $71.42 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
-- April gasoline tacked on 0.5% to $2.1813 a gallon, while April heating oil added 0.7% to $2.2476 a gallon.
-- Natural gas for April delivery traded at $4.136 per million British thermal units, down 2.6%.
Dow ends lower, S&P 500 and Nasdaq resume selloff Thursday
U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday, with the S&P 500...
U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq resuming the rout that landed the two indexes in correction territory recently.
Somewhat optimistic comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell helped stocks notch big gains on Wednesday, but the positive vibes started to fade a day later.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 11.31 points lower, or less than 0.1%, closing at 41,953.32.
The S&P 500 index shed 12.40 points, or 0.2%, ending at 5,662.89.
The Nasdaq Composite closed down 59.16 points, or 0.3%, at 17,691.63.
From a month ago, the Dow was off 5%, the S&P 500 was 7.4% lower and the Nasdaq was down 11.4%, according to FactSet.
Sabine Oil & Gas to Add 4th Haynesville Rig as Gas Prices Rise
Sabine Oil & Gas plans to add a fourth rig on its East Texas leasehold...
Sabine Oil & Gas plans to add a fourth rig on its East Texas leasehold next month.
President and CEO Carl Isaac said Sabine aims to keep the fourth rig deployed “hopefully for the rest of the year” if the company is comfortable with natural gas prices staying elevated.
Isaac said East Texas pureplay Sabine Oil & Gas has held steady at three rigs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two rigs are in Haynesville, and one is in the Cotton Valley.
APA, formerly Apache, made the reductions in January and late February,...
APA, formerly Apache, made the reductions in January and late February, according to an emailed response to questions. The reductions amount to 10% and 15% of the company’s more than 2,300-person workforce.
APA is the worst-performing energy stock in the S&P 500 over the past 12 months. With operations stretching from the US Permian Basin to Egypt, investors have been concerned APA is spread too thin geographically for a company of its size. In November, the company announced plans to shutter operations in the North Sea, and is targeting about $350 million in annual savings by the end of 2027.
ExxonMobil focuses on Permian scale, LNG expansion
According to Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil's upstream business,...
According to Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil's upstream business, the Permian Basin is shifting to large-scale, technology-driven development, with longer laterals and optimized well designs improving efficiency. The company uses proprietary proppant technology and multi-bench "cube" development to drive production gains. Exxon plans to boost Permian production to around 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030 and expand its LNG supply to about 29.8 million short tons per year by 2027.
