By Jim Jelter, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil- and refining-company stocks clawed their way back to the black Friday for a sixth straight week of gains, powering past a drop in underlying oil prices.
The rebound overcame an early slump after the Paris-based International Energy Agency trimmed its energy-growth outlook for the rest of the year, citing a sluggish global economy.
Natural-gas stocks were less resilient, dragged lower by a steep selloff in futures as Hurricane Ernesto broke up over southeast Mexico, easing fears of further Gulf of Mexico production disruptions.
Marathon Oil Corp. MRO +1.12% topped percentage gainers in the oil group, up 1.1% to close to $27.90 a share. The move helped lead the NYSE Arca Oil Index XX:XOI +0.43% 0.4% higher to 1,244.56 points.
The index is up 16% since June 1, holding a choppy but well-defined trend channel during its advance.
Among news makers, BP PLC BP +0.43% shares rose 0.4% Friday. The London-based company announced after the close that BP American Production Co. agreed to sell its Sunray and Hemphill gas-processing units in Texas to Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP EROC +0.11% for $227.5 million in cash.
In the futures market, crude for September delivery CLU2 +0.03% fell 49 cents at $92.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. 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.
September natural-gas futures NGU12 -5.50% , after briefly spiking 5% Thursday, fell 5.9% Friday at $2.77 per million British thermal units after Ernesto broke apart. 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 -0.69% fell 0.7% at 650.55 points. But even with Friday’s pullback, it advanced 2.9% for the week.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index OSX +0.33% shook off an early decline to finish 0.3% higher at 228.88 points, leaving it with a weekly gain of 3.2% — the best performance of the week among the sector’s three main indexes.
Shares of oil-field equipment maker National Oilwell Varco Inc. NOV +0.49% rose 0.5% to $77.36. The company announced a deal Thursday to buy Robbins & Meyers Inc. RBN -0.05% , paying $60 a share in cash and valuing its smaller competitor at about $2.5 billion. Robbins & Meyers shares slipped 3 cents to close at $59.60.
Jim Jelter is Industrials Editor for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
