Shares of oil and gas companies fell early Friday as this week's string of lower fourth-quarter earnings and lower commodity prices weighed on the sector's major indexes.
The Amex Oil Index (XOI: 1,170.31, -9.58, -0.8% ) was down 1% to 1,167.57 points as crude for March delivery dropped 10 cents to $57.20 a barrel. The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG: 457.58, -3.14, -0.7% ) was off 0.7% to 457.25 points as natural gas fell 0.9% to $7.47 per million British thermal units. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX 194.93, -0.83, -0.4% ) slipped 0.2% to 195.46 points.
On the oil index, Chevron (CVX 73.75, -0.72, -1.0% ) was off 1% to $73.72 after reporting a 9% decline in fourth-quarter net income due to sharply lower natural-gas prices and higher operating costs. See full story.
Earnings for the nation's second-largest oil company behind Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM74.54, -0.54, -0.7% ) fell to $3.77 billion, or $1.74 a share, down from a year-ago profit of $4.14 billion, or $1.86 a share. Valero Energy Corp (VLO 55.87, -0.16, -0.3% ) was holding up better than the rest of its peers, trading flat at $56.03 after being upgraded to overweight from neutral weight by Prudential.
On the natural-gas index, Apache Corp. ( APA69.82, -1.75, -2.4% ) paced the decline, falling 2.1% to $70.08 following a Citigroup downgrade to hold from buy. "We are concerned that Apache's poor 2006 reserve replacement cost in the Gulf of Mexico is potentially indicative of a project inventory that is starting to mature," said analyst Gil Yang in a note to clients.
On the natural-gas index, Apache Corp. ( APA69.82, -1.75, -2.4% ) paced the decline, falling 2.1% to $70.08 following a Citigroup downgrade to hold from buy. "We are concerned that Apache's poor 2006 reserve replacement cost in the Gulf of Mexico is potentially indicative of a project inventory that is starting to mature," said analyst Gil Yang in a note to clients.
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