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 [...]

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 [...]