Sector Update: Energy Stocks Fall Friday Afternoon
Energy stocks were lower Friday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index decreasing 1.5% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) shedding 1.4%.The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index fell 0.9%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index decreased 0.4%.Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 3.3% to $101.62 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract dropped 2.1% to $108.09 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures was steady at $2.77 per 1 million BTU.In corporate news, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) reported year-over-year declines in their Q1 earnings on Friday amid supply disruptions due to the Middle East war, but the figures came in ahead of Wall Street's estimates. Exxon shares were down 1.1%, and Chevron fell 1.5%.BP (BP) is considering exiting part or all of its operations in the UK North Sea in order to strip assets and pay down debt, Bloomberg reported. BP's upstream operations in the UK could fetch about $2.7 billion from a full divestment, the report said. BP shares were down 2.2%.Occidental Petroleum (OXY) said Friday its board has appointed Chief Operating Officer Richard Jackson to succeed Vicki Hollub as president and chief executive, starting June 1. Occidental shares declined 3.4%.