California Resources shakes off downgrade; Comstock slashes capex budget; Transocean gains

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Phoenix, March 23 – The distressed energy space got a boost Monday as oil prices rallied.

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 76 cents, or 1.63%, to $47.33 a barrel for May delivery. Brent crude meantime gained 57 cents, or 1.03%, to close at $55.89.

The oil price rally came despite comments made by Saudi Arabia’s oil prime minister said the OPEC nation was producing at a near record of approximately 10 million barrels per day.

Ali al-Naimi, the oil prime minister, further commented that it would not cut production without the cooperation of non-OPEC producers.

“We tried, we held meetings [to discuss production cuts] and we did not succeed because countries outside OPEC were insisting that OPEC carry the burden and we refuse that OPEC bears the responsibility,” al-Naimi said.

Back in the day’s dealings, California Resources Corp.’s debt inched up, even as Moody’s Investors Services downgraded the company.

Comstock Resources Inc. was meantime up smartly following the company’s announcement that it had reduced its 2015 capital budget.

Even Transocean Inc. experienced a rebound. The bonds were down in the previous week after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the offshore drilling company and the company said it was scrapping more rigs.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.