Oil stocks slide up to 3% as crude prices weaken

CHENNPETRO Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India declined on Thursday as global crude oil prices extended their ***** Petroleum Corporation dropped nearly 3 percent, emerging as one of the top laggards in the sector. Oil India slipped 1.4 percent while ONGC was down 0.82 percent. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals also weakened by about 1.5 percent. The Nifty Oil & Gas index traded 0.73 percent lower, with most of its constituents in the ***** pressure on upstream oil companies came as Brent crude futures fell more than 1 percent to around $91.8 a barrel. Upstream producers, whose realisations are closely linked to crude prices, typically face earnings pressure when oil prices ***** participants attributed the drop in crude to optimism around potential progress in peace talks related to conflicts in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Lower oil prices reduce the expected realisations for exploration and production companies, prompting profit-booking in the stocks.