Goldman Sachs upgraded the oilfield services sector to “Attractive” from “Neutral,” predicting strong profit growth due to greater drilling activity and high oil prices.
Analyst Charles Minervino expects earnings to grow in the double digits through 2011 as high oil prices lead to more rapid rig construction, and both drilling activity and the rates oil companies [...]

Oil prices dropped sharply after China said it will raise fuel prices, a move that could dampen its booming oil consumption.
Crude-oil prices also were given a downward push by the Iraqi Oil Ministry’s announcement that it is close to signing oil service deals with several major Western oil companies in an effort to boost crude [...]

Oil prices settled higher, rebounding from earlier losses on reports that Nigerian oil workers are about to strike, and investors focused on a surprise decline in gasoline inventories last week.
Retail gas prices slipped slightly for a second day, a sign that falling demand may be affecting prices and that prices at the pump may have [...]

Oil prices settled lower for the third straight day as investors weighed expectations of higher output against the market’s ability to quench soaring global demand.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell 60 cents to settle at $134.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline hovered at [...]

Crude oil futures swung wildly, rising to a record and then tumbling as investors wrestled with whether they should put stock in Saudi Arabia’s promise to boost production. Retail gas prices rose to a record $4.08 a gallon.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell 25 cents to settle at $134.61 on the New York Mercantile [...]

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey raised its crude oil price outlook for 2008 to an average $115 per barrel from $90 per barrel, and to $110 per barrel next year from $85 per barrel.
“We are raising our crude oil price expectations to reflect near-term supply realities, but also near- to intermediate-term demand responses that may not have [...]

Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering raising its crude oil output to about 10 million barrels a day. The Middle East Economic Survey, a regional energy and finance newsletter, says that would mean increasing current output by about half a million barrels a day.
Although the Saudis have repeatedly insisted their massive oil reserves are not [...]

In its monthly market report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said oil’s recent volatility — the price for a barrel has swung back and forth in a $10 range over the past week alone — “reconfirms the view that current price levels do not reflect supply and demand realities.”
Looking ahead to the second [...]

Oil prices pulled back after OPEC questioned whether crude can remain so high through the rest of the year and the dollar gained against the euro.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery sank $1.88 to settle at $134.86 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
At the gas pump, the average national price for a gallon of [...]

Exxon Mobil is getting out of the retail gasoline business, a market where profits have gotten tougher because of high crude oil prices.
The world’s largest publicly traded oil company said Thursday it will sell its 820-company owned stations and another 1,400 outlets operated by dealers to gasoline distributors across the U.S.
The Irving-based company didn’t [...]