tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21987184.post-16559653346338328692008-05-21T19:25:00.002+02:002008-05-21T19:32:11.857+02:002008-05-21T19:32:11.857+02:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Energy stocks</span> moved higher Wednesday as oil topped $132 a barrel for the first time on an unexpected draw down in petroleum supplies.<br /><br />Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading cited supply problems from the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Gulf of Mexico</span> as fueling the latest record run in oil prices, as investors dive into the commodity to flee a falling dollar and turmoil in the financial sector. Bullish sentiment is outweighing the laws of supply and demand as traders look toward $135 a barrel as the next possible point of resistance.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Amex Oil Index </span>(<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">XOI: 1,660.15, +30.06, +1.8%</span>) rose 1.3% to 1,651. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Royal Dutch Shell</span> (<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">RDSA: 88.40, +3.22, +3.8%</span>) led gains among oil producers with a rise of 3.6% to $88.21. Gains accelerated after fresh data showing crude supplies falling by 5.4 million barrels to 320.4 million for the week ended May 16, according to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Energy Department </span>Wednesday. Supplies had climbed over 12 million barrels in four weeks. Refinery utilization rose to 87.9 % of capacity from 86.6% a week ago. Following the news, July crude topped $132 a barrel for the first time.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Amex Natural Gas Index </span>(<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">XNG: 749.05, +7.81, +1.1%</span>) rose 0.5% to 745, cooling from an earlier rise of 1%. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Philadelphia Oil Service Index</span> (<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">$OSX: 355.01, +4.28, +1.2%</span>) rose 0.6% to 353. <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Oilwell Varco</span> (<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">NOV: 86.55, +5.68, +7.0%</span>) jumped 5.3% to $85.16. Meanwhile, average U.S. retail gasoline prices continued their move into record territory on Wednesday, with a rise of a penny to $3.81 a gallon for regular unleaded, according to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Daily Fuel Gauge Report</span> from AAA. A month ago, the average price was $3.50 a gallon and a year ago it was $3.21 a gallon.<br /><br />Among movers, <span style="font-weight: bold;">PETROBRAS</span> (<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">PBR: 76.86, +2.75, +3.7%</span>) rose 3.2% to $76.46. On Tuesday, the company said it plans to contract 40 drilling ships and platforms to operate in deep and ultra-deep waters by 2017.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chesapeake</span> (<span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 51);">CHK: 56.73, -0.53, -0.9%</span>) fell 1.3% to $56.53 after it priced its offering of $1.2 billion of contingent convertible senior notes. The company upped the size of the deal from $500 million. The natural gas producer also announced that it priced $800 million of 7.25% senior notes.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Source: MarketWatch| by Steve Gelsi</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~s/baja-EnergyBlog-laveaga?i={$entrydata.url|escape:url}" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Staff Writerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01595895436414092599noreply@blogger.com