Energy Stocks: Mixed as oil backs off $60 a barrel

Energy stocks got off to a mixed start Friday, with natural gas stocks creeping higher and Big Oil stocks slipping from the previous session's gains despite oil futures briefly hitting a five-week high in New York.

In early action, the Amex Oil Index ($XOI :1,162.66, -9.24, -0.8% ) was off 0.5% at 1,166 points, retreating from a 1.1% advance on Thursday. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA 66.72, -1.02, -1.5% ) was leading percentage decliners, down 1.4%.

The Amex Natural Gas Index ($XNG : 459.11, -1.26, -0.3% ) was managing a 0.2% gain, however, built in part of mildly bullish U.S. supply data released on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia Oil Service Index ($OSX : 199.73, -0.33, -0.2% ) was off 0.5% at 198.9 points, trading in a narrow range that saw it briefly rise to the 200-mark.

"[We] are still searching for investor passion -- and not finding it. Grinding remains the best term," energy analyst Dan Pickering said in a pre-market commentary.

Action on the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange was similarly mixed, with the March crude oil futures easily topping $60 overnight before sliding back to $59.80 a barrel. That retreat from the high nevertheless leaves the contract 9 cents above Thursday's settlement price. See Futures Movers.

Natural gas futures, on the other hand, were languishing in the red, with the March contract down 3 cents at $7.84 per million British thermal units.

In the news, Chevron Corp. (CVX : 73.61, -0.14, -0.2% ) has said it is interested in bidding for assets of the bankrupt Russian oil producer OAO Yukos, a spokesman for Yukos' court-appointed liquidator said in a statement Friday.

Chevron joins a host of other international oil companies eyeing the assets, which include oil and gas fields and refineries in Russia. The assets are to be sold via auction over the next few months.

And BP Plc (BP :63.01, -0.49, -0.8% ) was back on the firing line. This time, the London Pensions Fund Authority, or LPFA, and a U.S. fund are filing a motion in an Alaska court asking to freeze the pension and compensation of BP departing Chief Executive John Browne, a spokesman for the fund said Friday.

Browne is taking an early retirement following a string of refinery and pipeline mishaps in the U.S. BP shares were down 0.9% at $62.95.