West Texas Intermediate crude prices are surging today, 3.1% in afternoon trading, as Hurricane Sally bears down on the U.S. Gulf Coast, putting both offshore oil production, and the dozens of refineries along the coast, at risk. Brent Crude, a benchmark for European oil that plays a major role in setting global oil prices, is also up more than 2% today.
The rise in oil prices is carrying over to oil stocks. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (NYSEMKT: XOP), which tracks the oil producers in the S&P 500 Index, was up more than 1% for much of today's trading. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) shares are up 5.3%, while shares of Matador Resources (NYSE: MTDR) and Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) are up more than 2% on the news.
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