By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Strong gains by BP PLC salvaged a narrow win for oil stocks Monday, overcoming a down day in the crude-oil trading pits.
BP PLC (BP 36.76, +2.71, +7.96%) rallied 7% to $36.51 on reports the company is considering selling production assets on Alaska's North Slope to raise cash for its Gulf of Mexico spill clean-up, which the company puts so far at $3.5 billion. See story about fresh BP speculation.
Crude oil futures fell $1.14 to $74.95 a barrel, casting a somber tone in the energy sector.
The NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 951.65, +5.58, +0.59%) rose 0.6% to 951 points, with six of its components up, six down, and one unchanged. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 508.25, -1.50, -0.29%) slipped 0.3% to 508. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 176.97, -0.52, -0.29%) dipped 0.3% to 177.
Shares of Apache Corp. (APA 85.07, -2.81, -3.20%) fell 3.2% to close at $85.07. Analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt said a possible move by Apache to buy BP's Alaska assets would follow its familiar play book of acquiring ageing fields and wringing fresh profits from them.
"APA made their company buying mature assets from majors and making them work harder/longer/stronger -- so shouldn't surprise if they are hunting BP's Prudhoe assets as reported in various newspapers over weekend," Tudor Pickering Holt analysts said.
Separately, the Sunday Times (of London) newspaper said Exxon Mobil (XOM 58.94, +0.16, +0.27%) and another firm, believed to be Chevron (CVX 71.85, +0.01, +0.01%) , had sought U.S. regulatory clearance to make a bid worth as much $150 billion for BP.
Meanwhile, Anadarko Petroleum (APC 46.75, +1.34, +2.95%) rose 1.3% to $46.75 a share. Late Friday, the oil and natural gas producer said it is withholding reimbursement payments for expenses related to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Anadarko owns a 25% stake in the BP-operated Macondo well, which has been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April.
"We have notified BP that we are withholding reimbursement to BP at this time," Anadarko's spokesman John Christiansen said in an emailed statement to Dow Jones Newswires.
In early June, BP billed Anadarko just over $272 million for clean-up expenses from May.
