These 3 ASX energy shares just hit 52-week highs

Let's see what might have boosted this motley crew of energy stocks to new 12-months highs on Tuesday.

Brooke Cooper

Brooke has been a Motley Fool contributor since early 2021. She holds a Bachelor of Communication with specialisations in journalism and international studies from Charles Sturt University. Brooke aims to inform and excite Aussies keen to grow their wealth by investing in ASX companies. When not writing or researching, you'll likely find Brooke gallivanting around South East Queensland.

Published February 8, 2022 4:43 pm AEDT

Tuesday proved to be an excellent day to own these ASX energy shares. They each raised the roof on their 12-month performances.

Shares in Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG), Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL), and South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) broke through their respective ceilings to record their best prices in more than a year on Tuesday.

Shares in Origin recorded an intraday high of $6.13 – representing a 1.4% gain on its previous close.

Those of Woodside reached $27.19 – 1.6% higher on the day.

Finally, the South32 share price surged 3.1% in intraday trade to hit $4.28.

So, what pushed this motley crew of energy producers to hit new 12-month highs? Let's take a look.

three businessmen high five each other outside an office building with graphic images of graphs and metrics superimposed on the shot. — Image source: Getty Images

These ASX energy shares hit 52-week highs on Tuesday

The share prices of Origin, Woodside, and South32 raised the roof on Tuesday despite the companies' collective silence.

Making their surge more interesting is the fact each of the 3 companies operates in vastly different spaces.

Origin works to provide electricity to Australia with exploration, production, and retail legs while Woodside produces oil and gas. Finally, South32 is a diversified metals and mining company with business in coal production.

So, what boosted the ASX energy shares consecutively higher? Well, it seems they were likely moving in reaction to energy commodity prices.

While Origin and Woodside operate in separate spheres, their businesses overlap when it comes to oil.

Both companies' profits tend to keep in step with the price of the black liquid which has been hitting multi-year highs lately. That might have helped boost sentiment around their share prices today.

In fact, Origin recently announced the rising oil prices helped its Australia Pacific LNG venture record a 33% increase in profits over the December quarter.

At the time of writing, West Texas Intermediate oil is trading at US$91.15 a barrel, according to data from CNBC. Meanwhile, barrels of Brent crude oil are going for US$92.41 a pop.

It was likely a similar story – albeit, of a different commodity – for the South32 share price.

Yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the price of coal – a major income source for the ASX share – is taking off amid a global energy shortage.

Additionally, the price of aluminium – another of the company's income sources – approached its 4 month high today, according to Reuters.

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