MW: Energy stocks touch highest levels in two months
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks charged out of the gate Monday, rallying as crude-oil futures moved over $80 a barrel to touch their highest levels since May.
The NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 1,010, +31.67, +3.24%) rose 2.2% to 1,002, breaking through the four-digit level for the first time in more than two months. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 528.71, +12.91, +2.50%) added 1.8% to 525.
Faring the best of the benchmarks, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index (OSX 188.57, +7.00, +3.86%) rallied 2.4% to 186.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 10,640, +174.30, +1.67%) quickly added 135 points. Exxon Mobil (XOM 61.23, +1.55, +2.60%) and Chevron Corp. (CVX 78.22, +2.01, +2.64%) , the blue-chip barometer's energy components, rose by 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively.
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Among sector stocks in the spotlight, BP PLC (BP 39.44, +0.97, +2.52%) (UK:BP. 415.15, +9.20, +2.27%) is expected to move ahead with its "static kill" plan to plug up its ruptured Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil major will start pumping drilling mud into the well as early as Monday night, a BP executive said late Sunday. See BP plans to start static kill.
Shares of BP rose 2% to $39.28.
Also on the move, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY 80.44, +2.51, +3.22%) said Stephen Chazen would step down as chief financial officer and be replaced by James Lienert, the company's vice president of finance and planning since 2006. Chazen, 63, will continue on as chief operating officer.
Shares of Occidental Petroleum rallied about 3% to the $80 mark.
El Paso Corp. (EP 12.79, +0.47, +3.82%) received federal approval to begin construction of the 680-mile Ruby Pipeline Project, capable of transporting 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day from an existing Opal, Wyo., supply hub to connections in Malin, Ore.
El Paso reached agreements that call for New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners to invest up to $700 million, in return for a 50% stake. The pipeline project will employ nearly 5,000 people, El Paso said.
Shares of El Paso rose 3% to $12.70.
EnergySolutions Inc. (ES 5.17, +0.14, +2.78%) said it expects to report a second-quarter net loss of 32 cents to 34 cents a share, including non-cash charges, and revenue of $385 million to $405 million. Excluding charges, the Salt Lake City-based provider of nuclear services to government and commercial customers pegged earnings in a range of 6 cents to 8 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting the company to show earnings of 6 cents a share on revenue of $376.4 million, according to a survey by FactSet Research.
