Oil service stocks are seeing considerable weakness in late morning trading on Friday, as the largest oil spill in U.S. history has prompted the Obama administration to extend a moratorium on new deepwater drilling.
The weakness among oil service stocks is reflected by the 4.8 percent loss currently being shown by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. With the move, the index is offsetting some of yesterday's advance and heading towards the eight and a half month closing low set on Monday.
The weakness among oil service stocks may be partly due to President Barack Obama's announcement on Thursday that his administration is extending a moratorium on new deepwater drilling due to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP Plc (BP), the firm responsible for the spill, is continuing its "top-kill" measure to plug the leaking oil well, with disaster costs eclipsing the $900 million mark thus far. In today's session, BP is down by 5 percent and is sinking back towards this week's more than one-year low.
In other sector action, shares of Halliburton Co. (HAL) have shown a notable decline, falling by 7.5 percent. The stock is now on pace for its lowest closing level in eight and a half months.
Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) and Oceaneering International, Inc. (OII) are also posting steep losses, sliding by 7.3 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively. Baker Hughes is at its lowest intraday level in nearly six months, while Oceaneering is at a ten-month intraday low.
Meanwhile, Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) is bucking the downtrend in the sector, rising by 3.9 percent to its best intraday price in nearly two weeks.
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