Energy Stocks: Petrobras kicks off year-end energy stocks rally

By Jim Jelter, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) ? Brazilian state oil company Petrobras kicked off a modest year-end rally by energy stocks Friday, injecting a little last-minute pizzazz into what was an unremarkable year for the sector.

It didn?t take much to stand out. Petrobras /quotes/zigman/265276/quotes/nls/pbr PBR +1.14% ? shares rose just over 1% to $24.98 in opening trades on news the company, together with BG Group /quotes/zigman/249967 UK:BG +0.44% ?, declared the giant Guara oil field off Brazil?s coast commercially viable. Petrobras and its partners plan to initiate development of the field.

Petrobras shares quickly relinquished the lead Hess Corp. /quotes/zigman/417764/quotes/nls/hes HES +0.72% , which at last glance also managed to break through the low 1% threshold, trading at $57.08.

The gains were enough to lift the NYSE Arca Oil Index /quotes/zigman/6015539 XX:XOI +0.15% ?nearly 0.25 to 1,231 points. If they hold, the index will finish the year 1.5% higher than where it started it.

The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index /quotes/zigman/6015474 XX:XNG -0.26% ?was also up about 0.2% in early trades, putting it on course for a 5.7% advance for the year.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index /quotes/zigman/1470028 OSX +0.30% ?, the sector?s third key benchmark, was up 0.6% Friday at 217 points, with Weatherford International /quotes/zigman/504342/quotes/nls/wft WFT +3.10% ?leading percentage gainers in the group, up 1.7% at $14.43 a share.

Oil service stocks lagged the rest of the sector in 2011, with the index down 11% from where it started the year.

Measuring its performance within the parameters of the S&P 500, the energy sector rose 3% for the year.

The utilities sector, one the other hand, posted a commanding 15.5% gain in the 2011, making it the top performer within the S&P 500 /quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX -0.32% ?in a year that rewarded those investors seeking safety.

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Jim Jelter is Industrials Editor for MarketWatch in San Francisco.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BB963DCC0-32F8-11E1-80DF-002128040CF6%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

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