Transocean (RIG) (FTK) (RRC) (KOG) (PTR) Trade Down as Oil Demand Falls

Falling demand for fuel has pushed down oil inventories and the price of oil, putting pressure on Flotek Industries, Inc. (NYSE:FTK), Range Resources (NYSE:RRC), Kodiak Oil & Gas (Amex:KOG), PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) and Transocean (NYSE:RIG).

Light, sweet crude for June delivery settled down $2.47, or 2.2%, at $111.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent crude for June fell $2.67 to settle at $122.45 a barrel.

Front-month June reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, settled down $1.85 cents, or 0.6%, at $3.3294 a gallon. June heating oil lost 6.13 cents, or 1.9%, to settle at $3.1908 a gallon.

Gasoline prices on average across America have jumped to just under $4.00 a gallon, rising to $3.97 a gallon for regular gas, according to AAA.

Silver is considered the key catalyst for downward pressure on oil prices and trading, as it has become a proxy to some for risk appetite among commodity traders.

After selling out of silver commodity traders followed up with divesting of positions in oil as well.

Even so, it appears the slight strengthening of the U.S dollar played a bit role Tuesday as well.

Range Resources (RRC) closed Tuesday at $54.39, falling $1.96, or 3.48 percent.