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Crude oil closed at its highest levels in nearly a month after a volatile session Wednesday, propelling energy equities to the top of the day’s S&P sector leaderboard.
Front-month Nymex WTI crude oil (CL1:COM) for October delivery ended +1.2% to $94.89/bbl, matching the gain in the top energy sector ETF (NYSEARCA:XLE), and October Brent crude (CO1:COM) settled +1% to $101.22/bbl, both posting their best settlements since July 29.
ETFs: (XLE), (XOP), (VDE), (OIH), (IEO), (DRIP), (CRAK), (NYSEARCA:USO), (UCO), (SCO), (BNO), (DBO), (USL)
Among the day’s top performing oil and gas stocks: (APA) +3.9%, (CTRA) +3.1%, (OKE) +2%, (COP) +1.9%, (PXD) +1.9%.
Oil ended higher following reports that the U.S. would not consider further concessions to Iran in a draft agreement that would restore the nuclear deal between the two countries, as well as the potential for OPEC+ to curb production.
In another jolt to oil markets, the U.S. government reported domestic crude oil stockpiles fell by 3.3M barrels to 421.7M barrels, bringing them ~6% below the five-year average, as the U.S. exports record amounts of crude and refined products.
According to the EIA, more than 11M bbl/day of crude and products such as diesel fuel left U.S. ports last week for overseas markets, the most in data going back to 1991.
Diesel exports surged 20% while crude outflows topped 4M bbl/day for a second straight week, the first back-to-back weekly gains since the lifting of the crude oil export ban in 2015.
Related: The U.S. average gasoline price has declined for 70 straight days, its longest streak since 2015.
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Image and article originally from seekingalpha.com. Read the original article here.