By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Jan. 3 -- Oil shares weathered a brutal bear market and recession in 2001 without giving up all of 2000's gains, said energy research and consulting company John S. Herold Inc., Norwalk, Conn.
"Oil stocks beat the broad market again last year, albeit by a very narrow margin," said Herold's yearend investment review.
Reporting on 300 companies divided by sector, the report said the best-performing groups were master limited partnerships (with a 41% increase in total shareholder return), refiners and marketers (up 20.9%), and royalty trusts (up 19.9%).
"Compensating for a lagging performance in 2000, Canadian integrated and diversifieds were up 19.7% and mid-sized Canadian E&Ps rose 13.1%," said Herold. "Russian and eastern European firms led the international integrateds to a 5.3% gain, while the large integrated oils eked out a 0.1% rise."
Stockholders of producing oil firms, which make up half the companies included, were reconciled to an average 20% loss in 2001 because those companies had seen their shares double in 2000.
Larger was better last year, Herold said. It said international E&Ps which fell only 7.8% while large Canadian E&Ps fell 14.0%, large US E&Ps fell 17.6%, mid-sized US E&Ps fell 23.5%, and small US E&Ps fell 29.4%.
The report said that of the 15 peer groups in the study, pipelines and diversifieds fell 14.9%, drillers fell 26.5%, and oil service companies fell 27.1%.
Herold also said among companies whose stock trades above $5/share, Enex Resources Corp., Houston, posted the most impressive performance, at 166%, largely because of takeover proposal from 3TEC Energy Corp., Houston.
Williams Energy Partners LP posted an 80.1% gain to lead the master limited partnerships, while refiners Frontier Oil Corp. and Holly Corp. more than doubled.
Murphy Oil Corp. led the large integrateds with a 41.5% rise, Yukos Oil Co. jumped 100.9% to lead the international integrateds, Suncor Inc. rose 37.7% to head the Canadian integrated and diversifieds, and Plains Resources Inc. rose 16.5% among the large US E&Ps. Quicksilver Resources Inc. rose 97.9% to lead the mid-sized US E&P category, while Vermillion Resources Ltd., with a 25% increase, led the large Canadian E&Ps.