Petrobras (PBR) (:EGY) (XCO) (HES) Trade Down on Slowing Oil Demand

Oil companies and other industry-related companies Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), Vaalco Energy (NYSE:EGY), Exco Resources Inc. (NYSE:XCO) and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) 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 dropped 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.

Hess Corporation (HES) closed Wednesday at $77.43, falling $2.40, or 3.01 percent.