The sacking of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saw US indexes close down on Tuesday, and the S&P/ASX 200 has followed suit today, with the political news weighing heavily on crude oil prices especially.
Enthusiasm for oil has been undercut globally, and these three S&P/ASX 200 oil miners have felt the pinch today, with share prices sliding well into the red.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
Shares in natural gas, oil and liquids explorer Santos Ltd are on the slide downwards today, dropping 1.4% to $4.86 at the time of writing.
The price bias has been downward for Santos this calendar year, but the stock is still tracking 17.4% above its 200-day moving average.
News out of Santos of late includes its partnership with Gladstone LNG to invest $900 million in Queensland gas fields, with Santos investing $20 billion into regional Queensland since 2011.
Santos has an increasing focus on natural gas for some time and develops oil and liquids in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam, increasing its susceptibility to the volatility of overall crude oil price movements.
Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH)
Shares in oil and gas explorer Oil Search Limited have dropped today to $7.02 at the time of writing – following the downtrend of global oil prices.
Oil Search Limited's main producing operations are in Papua New Guinea with a recent earthquake in the region knocking production at the company's Agogo facility and suspending LNG exports.
Oil Search handed down its FY17 results in February – highlighted by a NPAT of almost three times that of its 2016 figure at US$302.1 million and a revenue rise of 17%.
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)
Shares in Australian oil and gas company Woodside Petroleum Limited were down 0.3% at the time of writing to $28.76, dropping from a February high of $33.88 and a share price of $30.59 at this time last year with plenty of ups and downs in-between.
Woodside has been in the news this week for its move to pay $744 million for ExxonMobil's 50% interest in the Scarborough project in Western Australia.
Woodside's share price is currently travelling at 4.7% below its 200-day moving average.
These three oil and gas players are in good company as they continue a share price slide today with S&P/ASX 200 steel producer BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) slipping more than 2% to $15.30 at the time of writing, and mining services player Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) also dropping close to a percent at $17.14.
