Thursday, April 14, 2011

Plains (PXP) (CRK) (CLR) (SWN) Close Up as Crude Prices Rebound

Shares of oil and energy companies like Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN), Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR), Plains Exploration & Production (NYSE:PXP) and Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK) all closed up Wednesday as crude oil prices rebounded after two days of trading down.

Crude-oil futures were up Wednesday, gaining strength after a period of weakness midway through the day as investors focused on a supply report and hefty gains for gasoline futures.

Crude for May delivery was up 86 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $107.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures ended a two-day losing streak that had slashed almost 6 percent from prices on Friday.

The Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories rose 1.6 million barrels for the week ended April 8.

The EIA reported a drop in gasoline inventories of 7 million barrels. Distillates supplies were down 2.7 million barrels.

Both figures showed deeper declines than projected. Analysts were looking for a decrease of 1.3 million for gasoline and unchanged stocks of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil.

Gasoline for May delivery increased 8 cents to $3.24 a gallon, also ending a two-session losing run and reaching the highest prices since Friday.

May heating oil was up 3 cents, or 1 percent, to $3.20 a gallon.

Comstock Resources closed Wednesday at $28.86, gaining $0.33, or 1.16 percent. Continental Resources closed at $66.63, up $0.90, or 1.37 percent. Southwestern Energy closed at $38.41, rising $0.39, or 1.03 percent. Plains Exploration & Production ended the day at $34.25, jumping $0.35, or 1.03 percent.

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