Marathon (MRO) (DVN) (SHI) (HK) (OAS) Trade Down on Slowing Oil Demand

Oil companies and other industry-related companies Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN), SINOPEC Shangai Petrochemical (NYSE:SHI), Petrohawk Energy Corp. (NYSE:HK), Oasis Petroleum (NYSE:OAS) and Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) all closed down Wednesday as oil prices took a breather.

Oil prices dropped after a government report showed that inventories are growing as demand softens in the U.S. Benchmark crude for June delivery was down $1.81 to settle at $109.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other NYMEX trading for June contracts, heating oil fell 4.78 cents to settle at $3.143 a gallon, gasoline futures lost 0.69 cent to $3.3225 a gallon and natural gas was lower by 9.4 cents to $4.644 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The U.S. dollar index shrunk 0.15 percent to $73.01, down from Tuesday's 73.127 close. The dollar index has fallen 7.5 percent so far in 2011.

Petrohawk Energy Corp. (HK) closed Wednesday at $24.04, falling $1.17, or 4.64 percent.