Hess (HES) (HK) (XCO) (APC) Close Up as Oil Prices Explode

Shares of Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES), Petrohawk Energy Corp. (NYSE:HK), Exco Resources Inc. (NYSE:XCO) and Anadarko (NYSE:APC) closed up on Wednesday as oil prices surged in response to news oil inventories unexpectedly dropped.

Oil prices exploded on Wednesday to roar above the $111 a barrel mark, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending April 15.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May delivery for West Texas Intermediate crude rose $3.17 or 2.93 percent to reach $111.45 a barrel.

The weakness of the U.S. dollar helped boost a number of commodities, including oil, as the U.S. dollar index dropped 0.91 on Wednesday.

Home heating oil prices increased 6.29 cents to $3.2214 a gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 4.42 cents to $3.2773 a gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices jumped 4.8 cents to $4.31 per million British thermal units.

The national average price of unleaded gasoline climbed to $3.837 a gallon Wednesday, up from Tuesday's $3.835, according to AAA.

Anadarko closed Wednesday at $80.15, up $1.73, or 1.74 percent. Exco Resources Inc. closed at $20.40, gaining $0.12, or 0.59 percent. Petrohawk Energy Corp. ended the trading session at $26.91, rising $0.29, or 1.09 percent. Hess Corporation closed at $80.55, jumping $1.99, or 2.53 percent.

BP (BP) (PBR) (BEXP) (SLB) Close Up as Oil Prices Explode

Shares of Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), Brigham Exploration (Nasdaq:BEXP), Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) and BP (NYSE:BP) closed up on Wednesday as oil prices surged in response to news oil inventories unexpectedly dropped.

Oil prices exploded on Wednesday to roar above the $111 a barrel mark, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending April 15.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May delivery for West Texas Intermediate crude rose $3.17 or 2.93 percent to reach $111.45 a barrel.

The weakness of the U.S. dollar helped boost a number of commodities, including oil, as the U.S. dollar index dropped 0.91 on Wednesday.

Home heating oil prices increased 6.29 cents to $3.2214 a gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 4.42 cents to $3.2773 a gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices jumped 4.8 cents to $4.31 per million British thermal units.

The national average price of unleaded gasoline climbed to $3.837 a gallon Wednesday, up from Tuesday's $3.835, according to AAA.

BP Wednesday at $45.91, up $1.23, or 2.75 percent. Schlumberger closed at $87.89, gaining $1.76, or 2.04 percent. Brigham Exploration ended the trading day at $34.46, rising $1.20, or 3.61 percent. Petrobras closed at $37.84, jumping $0.75, or 2.02 percent.

Shell (RDS-A) (NOG) (MRO) (HAL) Jump on Low Oil Inventories

Shares of Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and Northern Oil and Gas (AMEX:NOG) were all jumping today on news Oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Expectations were oil inventories were going to increase by 1.6 million barrels.

Consequently the price of crude oil surged over the $110 a barrel mark again. Nymex oil for June delivery increased 2.1 percent to $110.54 as of 11:25 AM EDT.

Northern Oil and Gas was trading at $23.61, gaining $0.54, or 2.34 percent, as of 2:06 PM EDT. Halliburton was trading at $49.57, up $0.56, or 1.14 percent. Royal Dutch Shell was at $ 74.03, rising $2.44, or 3.41 percent. Marathon Oil was trading at $52.86, increasing $1.58, or 3.08 percent.

Halliburton (HAL) (APC) (DVN) (WTI) Close Up as Crude Prices Rebound

Shares of oil and energy companies like Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Anadarko (NYSE:APC), Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) and W&T Offshore (NYSE:WTI) 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.

W&T Offshore closed Wednesday at $21.81, gaining $0.03, or 0.14 percent. Devon Energy closed at $87.72, up $1.74, or 2.02 percent. Anadarko closed at $78.34, rising $0.91, or 1.18 percent. Halliburton ended the day at $45.51, jumping $0.17, or 0.37 percent.