text: Post «Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Rice Energy, WPX Energy and Encana» in blog WhoTrades
  Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: ExxonMobil, Chevron, Rice Energy, WPX Energy and Encana
  Chicago, IL –July21, 2017 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Oil & Gas, Part 1, includingExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM – Free Report), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX – Free Report) Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE: RICE – Free Report), WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX – Free Report ) and Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA – Free Report).
  Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/122296/oil-gas-industry-out...
  However, the situation is drastically different now, with the commodity having floundered in recent weeks. By June 21, crude had cratered more than 20% from its February highs and officially plunged into bear territory. In fact, prices ended down 14.3% for the first half of the year – the worst performance since 1998. Therefore, it was not surprising thatExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM – Free Report ) and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX – Free Report ) – the DJIA's two energy giants – were among the 7 Dow stocks that closed the first half with a loss. Both scrips experienced sharp declines in price this year, dropping more than 10% year to date when the index (with a rise of 8%) marked its best first-half performance since 2013.
  The nation's oil stockpiles have shrunk in 12 of the last 14 weeks, and the latest decline – of 7.56 million barrels for the week ending July 7 – was their biggest in 10 months. Over the last two weeks, inventories have slumped by 13.9 million barrels, narrowing the surplus five-year average storage surplus down to 103.05 million barrels. Importantly, stocks at the Cushing terminal in Oklahoma – the key delivery hub for U.S. crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange – is currently down to 57.56 million barrels, the lowest since November 2015.
  Gasoline stocks have also been going down. As per EIA's latest inventory release, Supplies of gasoline were down for the fourth successive week as demand strengthened and imports declined. The 1.65 million barrels draw took gasoline stockpiles down to 235.66 million barrels. As a result of recent decreases, the existing stock of the most widely used petroleum product has now fallen 1.8% below the year-earlier level. Moreover, implied demand rose 81,000 barrels per day and has averaged 9.711 million barrels per day the last four weeks – above the five-year average for the same period.
  No wonder producers like Rice Energy Inc. (NYSE: RICE – Free Report ), WPX Energy Inc. (NYSE: WPX – Free Report ) and Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA – Free Report ) – all Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) companies – saw their shares jump more than 100% last year. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .