Why Oil Stocks Are Getting Crushed Today

Crude oil prices tanked on Friday, with both WTI (the U.S. benchmark price) and Brent (the global benchmark) tumbling more than 8.5% by 11:30 a.m. EST. That sell-off in the oil market drove down shares of oil producers, with several big names plunging. Among the notable movers were Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), Continental Resources (NYSE: CLR), Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN), and Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ: FANG), which all fell more than 10% this morning. Meanwhile, oil behemoth ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) shed more than 5% of its value at one point, wiping away another $10 billion from its market capitalization.

Oil tumbled after reports surfaced that Russia -- a key ally in the OPEC alliance (known as OPEC+) to curb oil supplies -- has rejected OPEC's recommendation of making extra production cuts. In the country's view, a bigger reduction in oil supplies won't solve the market's current problems. OPEC had wanted an additional 1.5 million barrels per day of production cuts through the end of this year to offset the impact that the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is having on oil demand.

Image source: Getty Images.

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Source: Motley Fool
(March 6, 2020 - 1:01 PM EST)

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