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Oil stocks were in the spotlight on Friday after a targeted military strike killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, considered the architect of the Islamic Republic’s military expansion in the Middle East.
The attack has sent crude-oil prices soaring, with West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery CLG20, +2.16% on the New York Mercantile Exchange up $1.41, or 2.3%, at $62.59 a barrel after trading as high as $64.09 — the highest intraday level for the U.S. benchmark since late April.
Read: Oil prices surge as traders watch Middle East tensions
The expectation is that an Iranian response to the killing of one of its most revered generals will hurt global energy supplies, at least in the short-term. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran-allied Iraqi militia commanders called up fighters who vowed to avenge the assassination of Soleimani, the leader of the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The ensuing surge in crude-oil prices could be beneficial to those companies that produce crude and its byproducts, with that view giving some buoyancy to energy stocks.
However, gains aren’t as powerful as they have been in the most recent Middle East drama, when a drone attack briefly knocked out major facilities in Saudi Arabia back in mid September.
Here’s how some energy assets are responding:
Friday’s market reaction
The popular Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF XLE, -0.48% was down 0.4% in Friday trade, while one the largest energy-related exchange-trade funds, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF XOP, +1.01%, was up 1.6%.
However, the moves for the oil-pegged funds are more muted in the aftermath of the killing of Soleimani, which could intensify conflicts in the Middle East, when compared with concerted drone strikes on Sept. 15 that briefly took out Saudi Arabian Aramco facilities, briefly shutting down 5% of the world’s global oil production.
Back then, XOP, referring to the oil-and-gas exploration ETF’s ticker, surged 10.8%, while XLE, referring to the energy fund’s ticker, jumped 3.4% on Sept. 16, the first full trading day after the those strikes.
RBC analyst Helima Croft said during a Friday interview on CNBC that if the attack had taken place five years ago, oil would have soared above $100 a barrel.
“U.S. production has blunted the impact to the market of geopolitics. The question is how does Iranian leadership respond?,” she said.
Check out: Why the oil market rally on elevated U.S.-Iran tensions may be short lived
Here’s how the top 10 performers among the equal-weighted XOP were trading on Friday at 10:40 ET:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – Jan. 3. 2020 | Decline from 52-week high | Price change – 2019 | Price change – 2018 |
| Whiting Petroleum Corp. | WLL, +7.26% | 8.0% | -75% | -66% | -14% |
| Chesapeake Energy Corp. | CHK, +5.67% | 7.0% | -74% | -56% | -47% |
| Callon Petroleum Co. | CPE, +1.81% | 4.7% | -43% | -24% | -47% |
| Continental Resources Inc. | CLR, +2.31% | 3.8% | -32% | -12% | -24% |
| WPX Energy Inc. | WPX, +1.93% | 3.6% | -7% | 25% | -19% |
| Range Resources Corp. | RRC, +0.79% | 3.2% | -63% | -52% | -44% |
| Parsley Energy Inc. Class A | PE, +1.77% | 3.1% | -11% | 24% | -46% |
| Hess Corp. | HES, +2.20% | 3.0% | -6% | 72% | -15% |
| Southwestern Energy Co. | SWN, +0.43% | 2.8% | -52% | -30% | -39% |
| Cimarex Energy Co. | XEC, +1.82% | 2.7% | -30% | -13% | -49% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
You can click the tickers for more about each company.
Here’s how all of 28 stocks held by XLE were performing at 10:40 ET:
| Company | Ticker | Price change – Jan. 3. 2020 | Price change – 2019 | Price change – 2019 | Price change – 2018 |
| Hess Corp. | HES, +2.20% | 3.0% | 72% | 65% | -15% |
| Cimarex Energy Co. | XEC, +1.82% | 2.7% | -13% | -15% | -49% |
| Concho Resources Inc. | CXO, +1.96% | 2.7% | -13% | -15% | -32% |
| Apache Corp. | APA, +1.56% | 2.5% | -1% | -3% | -38% |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. | OXY, +1.74% | 2.4% | -29% | -33% | -17% |
| Devon Energy Corp. | DVN, +1.05% | 2.2% | 17% | 15% | -46% |
| Diamondback Energy Inc. | FANG, +1.64% | 1.8% | 2% | 0% | -27% |
| Pioneer Natural Resources Co. | PXD, +0.96% | 1.7% | 18% | 15% | -24% |
| Helmerich & Payne Inc. | HP, +0.02% | 1.7% | -4% | -5% | -26% |
| Marathon Oil Corp. | MRO, +0.13% | 1.6% | -3% | -5% | -15% |
| Halliburton Co. | HAL, +0.06% | 1.2% | -6% | -8% | -46% |
| EOG Resources Inc. | EOG, +0.48% | 1.1% | -2% | -4% | -19% |
| Schlumberger NV | SLB, +0.02% | 0.7% | 12% | 11% | -46% |
| National Oilwell Varco Inc. | NOV, -0.12% | 0.7% | -1% | -3% | -29% |
| TechnipFMC PLC | FTI, +0.19% | 0.7% | 10% | 9% | -37% |
| Oneok Inc. | OKE, +0.57% | 0.5% | 41% | 40% | 1% |
| ConocoPhillips | COP, +0.27% | 0.4% | 5% | 4% | 14% |
| Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. | COG, -0.20% | 0.3% | -23% | -22% | -22% |
| Kinder Morgan Inc. Class P | KMI, +0.07% | 0.3% | 37% | 38% | -15% |
| Noble Energy Inc. | NBL, -1.31% | 0.2% | 29% | 32% | -36% |
| Baker Hughes Co. Class A | BKR, -0.55% | 0.1% | 19% | 19% | -32% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, -0.35% | 0.0% | 12% | 11% | -13% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, -0.76% | -0.1% | 4% | 2% | -18% |
| Williams Companies Inc. | WMB, -0.62% | -0.1% | 6% | 8% | -28% |
| Phillips 66 | PSX, -2.69% | -2.5% | 27% | 29% | -15% |
| Valero Energy Corp. | VLO, -3.79% | -3.4% | 23% | 25% | -18% |
| HollyFrontier Corp. | HFC, -4.86% | -4.2% | -4% | -1% | 0% |
| Marathon Petroleum Corp. | MPC, -4.57% | -4.6% | 0% | 2% | -11% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
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