By Jim Jelter, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil and gas stocks fell Friday as energy futures retreated on a gloomy demand outlook from the International Energy Agency and as Hurricane Ernesto broke up over eastern Mexico, easing fears of further Gulf of Mexico production disruptions.
Lacking support from the underlying futures market, energy stocks joined the equities market’s broad drift lower. The sector was the biggest Friday decliner within the S&P 500 SPX -0.18% , down 2.4% in early trading and erasing the previous session’s gains.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. APC -0.66% fit the general pattern. Among Thursday’s top gainers, its shares ranked among Friday’s biggest decliners, down 0.9%. Only three of the components making up the NYSE Arca Oil Index XX:XOI -0.11% were showing gains.
In energy futures, crude oil for September delivery CLU2 -0.65% traded off 84 cents at $92.52 a barrel in New York. The move followed a report from the Paris-based EIA that global economic sluggishness could limit growth in oil demand to 900,000 barrels a day in 2012 and to 800,000 barrels in 2013. Read the latest on oil prices.
And September natural gas NGU12 -5.23% , after briefly spiking as much as 5% during Thursday’s session, shed 4% on Friday — primarily a reaction to Ernesto’s dissipation as it came ashore. The storm had earlier forced ports and offshore production platforms to close in the energy-rich Bay of Campeche.
The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index XX:XNG -1.05% was last down 1.2% at 647 points. But even with Friday’s pullback, it is on track to post a 2.4% advance for the week.
Among the biggest gainers Thursday, shares of Cabot Oil & Gas COG -2.69% lately moved down 2.8%, so far the biggest decliners in the group.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index OSX -0.36% was down 0.7% at 227 points, heading for a weekly gain of 2.6%.
Shares of oil-field equipment maker National Oilwell Varco NOV -0.02% were off 0.2% at $76.80. The company announced Thursday a deal to buy Robbins & Meyers Inc. RBN -0.08% , paying $60 a share in an all-cash deal that values its smaller competitor at about $2.5 billion.
Jim Jelter is Industrials Editor for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
