Energy stocks fall on oil price decline

Most Oklahoma energy stocks fell Wednesday as Wall Street worked through both a sharp drop in oil prices and continued volatility in the broader market.

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. led the decline among the state's energy companies, falling 24 cents, or 7.7 percent, to $2.89 a share. The stock hit a new 52-week low of $2.80 earlier in the day before recovering slightly.

More than 70 million Chesapeake shares traded hands Wednesday, almost two and half times the stock's average daily volume and marking its highest volume since June 2017.

Gulfport Energy Corp. and Laredo Petroleum Inc. also set new 52-week lows during Wednesday's session. Along with Chesapeake, Unit Petroleum Corp., Mammoth Energy Services Inc., WPX Energy Inc., Devon Energy Corp. and Gulfport each shed more than 4 percent of value Wednesday.

NGL Energy Partners LP, Panhandle Oil and Gas Inc., ONE Gas Inc., ONEOK Inc. and Enable Midstream Partners LP were the only Oklahoma oil and natural gas stocks to gain ground Wednesday.

Domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude tumbled $1.60, or 2.5 percent, to $61.79 a barrel Wednesday. Natural gas prices slipped 6 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $2.70 per thousand cubic feet.

The commodity price dropped after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic oil production increased to a record 10.25 million barrels per day last week, up 332,000 barrels per day from the previous week. The faster-thanexpected production growth sparked concern that the industry could again oversupply the market.

The country's commercial storage levels also increased last week, adding 1.9 million barrels to 420.3 million. Cushing — the country's largest commercial hub — however, saw a slight decrease to 36.3 million barrels, down from 37 million one week earlier.