Soaring oil prices helped ensure energy stocks remained the best-performing companies in the Standard & Poor’ 500 index in the second quarter and the first half of the year.
Through Friday, energy shares as a group shot up 14.9 percent for the quarter, and are up 6.3 percent for the year to date — one of [...]

Oil prices surged past $143 a barrel for the first time and then fell back as a rising dollar prompted some investors to sell.
Crude gave back its gains after the Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index of Midwest Manufacturing beat estimates and the dollar strengthened against the euro.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 21 cents to [...]

Shares of petroleum refiners hit new 52-week lows as the price of crude oil surged.
Valero Energy Corp., Tesoro Corp., Sunoco Inc., Holly Corp. and Frontier Oil Corp. all hit new lows in morning trading before regaining some ground.
Refiners’ margins have been squeezed by rising crude prices and falling demand for refined products such as gasoline [...]

Oil futures shot above $140 after OPEC’s president said oil prices could rise well above $150 a barrel this year and Libya said it may cut oil production.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $140.39 in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before retreating slightly to settle at $139.64, up [...]

OPEC President Chakib Khelil again said oil producers saw no need to raise supply and blamed record oil prices on factors outside the cartel’s control, such as U.S. pressure on Iran and the weak U.S. dollar.
Following talks with European Union nations, Khelil said oil states believe they are pumping enough oil to satisfy demand and [...]

Oilfield service shares rallied Monday as higher crude-oil prices gave investors reason to add to their bets on the sector.
Oil prices rose on what the market saw as a modest production increase from Saudi Arabia and concerns that output from Nigeria will decline. Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 [...]

Halliburton Co. shares raced to a new record high as oil prices climbed and the oilfield service provider walked away from an offer to buy Expro International Group PLC.
The stock rose more than 5 percent at one point in the session, touching a high of $52.84, before moving back to $52.50, up $2.45 in afternoon [...]

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill say investors have a role in rising oil prices, pointing out that speculation in crude futures has nearly doubled since 2000.
Pension funds, Wall Street banks and other large investors that have no intention of taking delivery of fuel have increasingly pumped money into contracts for oil and other commodities as [...]

Oil prices rose after Saudi Arabia’s modest production increase failed to push traders to sell.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.38 to settle at $136.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Retail gas prices inched lower overnight but appear unlikely to change much as long as oil prices remain stuck in their recent [...]

International companies have been asked to bid for a tender to extract coal in parts of Kitui and Mwingi districts.
The Ministry of Energy asked interested firms to bid for the last phase of the exploration in the Mui basin as part of efforts to determine the commercial viability of the reserves. This comes in the [...]