Since topping out at $120 a barrel back in the summer of 2022, the major oil benchmarks had traded down every month until bottoming in the beginning of December. The decline from the top in the previous June was a staggering 40%. While the oil majors can still make money at that level, with a declining price many opted to slow or halt production. By March of this year, West Texas Intermediate had dropped to $67.61, a bottom that stayed in place until late June when oil finally broke out.
OPEC recently announced that its production levels will stay in place going forward, and on Tuesday Saudi Arabia extended its 1 million barrel-per-day production cuts through the end of the year. In addition, with Russia cutting oil exports in September by 300 million barrels, the perfect storm was in place for a move higher.
We screened our 24/7 Wall St. energy research universe looking for stocks that were rated Buy, come with large and dependable dividends, and had solid upside to the posted price targets. Seven top companies came up, and all make sense for growth and income investors looking to add energy.
This post originally appeared on 24/7 Wall St.