Energy Up on Higher Risk Tolerance -- Energy Roundup

Shares of oil-and-gas companies rallied as investors opened the New Year with a show of increased risk tolerance.

The energy sector has roared back to favor recently as oil prices rebound and economic-growth expectations rise. The price of oil ticked down as supply disruptions in the North Sea and Libya were resolved. Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $60.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, lingering near a two-and-a-half year high. The resumption of oil flows in pipelines in the U.K. and Libya was offset by concern that antigovernment protests in Iran could disrupt production there, as reported earlier.

BP was the latest overseas company with U.S. operations to say it would take a roughly $1.5 billion accounting charge for its latest quarter related to the U.S. tax overhaul, a warning it qualified by stating that a corporate tax cut would be a long-term positive.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 02, 2018 16:25 ET (21:25 GMT)