Oil and gas stocks surge as U.S. crude hits $112/bbl
SlavkoSereda/iStock via Getty Images

At least seven major oil and gas stocks have hit fresh 52-week highs Wednesday, as energy (XLE
+2.6%) battles with the financials group for the top of the day's S&P sector leaderboard with crude oil remaining elevated by continued support from geopolitical uncertainty.
Chevron (CVX
+3.3%), Occidental Petroleum (OXY
+4%), ConocoPhillips (COP
+2.1%), Williams (WMB
+3.5%), Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD
+1.7%), APA Corp. (APA
+2%) and EOG Resources (EOG
+0.9%) all touched multiyear highs before narrowing their gains; other notable gainers include OKE
+5.5%, CTRA
+4.9%, BKR
+4.8%, SLB
+3.4%.
WTI April crude (CL1:COM)
+5.5% at $109.15/bbl, though it trades a bit below its morning high of $112.51, which was its highest level since May 2011, and May Brent (CO1:COM)
+5.8% at $111.08/bbl, its best since June 2014.
ETFs: USO, UCO, BNO, XOP, VDE, OIH
"Brent crude could surge to the $120 level if the oil market starts to think it is likely that sanctions will be placed on Russian energy" in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Oanda's Ed Moya said.
A U.S. release of 30M barrels from strategic reserves, part of an International Energy Agency plan to release 60M barrels of reserves, will make little difference, Goldman Sachs says, as "demand destruction through still higher prices is now likely the only sufficient rebalancing mechanism, with supply elasticity no longer relevant."
"We're going to go to $150, even higher than that because the only solver right now in this market is demand destruction," Energy Aspects' chief oil analyst Amrita Sen reportedly told CNBC, estimating ~70% of Russian crude oil exports "can't be touched" for now because of banking sanctions.
As expected, the OPEC+ coalition ratified a planned production increase of 400K bbl/day, continuing the gradual restoration of output halted during the pandemic.
According to a Reuters survey, OPEC+ production grew in February by 420K bbl/day, which if accurate would mark the first time since September 2021 that group production growth exceeded monthly quota growth.