SECTOR COMMENTARY

The energy sector ended a volatile day of trading mostly lower, with refiners and drillers faring best while E&Ps saw the steepest declines on the day. After a mixed start following upbeat labor data, equities quickly began to move lower as investors were reluctant to buy ahead of tomorrow’s closely watched U.S. payrolls report.

WTI crude oil futures ended the day lower by $0.67 or 0.73% at $91.66, touching eight-month lows and slightly trailing its UK counterpart which was off roughly 0.65% in late afternoon trading. Concerns over an excess of domestic supplies and record crude production weighed on prices. Brent saw slightly more resilience today after news that production was restarting at a key North Sea oilfield and as the market weighed Libya's resolve to get oil exports on track.

Natural gas futures saw a sharp sell off today, closing lower by $0.211 or 5% at $4.005, the biggest one-day drop since May 2, as forecasts calling for a thaw in regions held in an arctic grip this week weighed on prices. The losses come despite a government report that showed the weekly storage levels fell in line with expectations. Inventories dropped by 157 billion cubic last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the same as the 157 bcf draw predicted in a Reuters poll of analysts.

U.S. INTEGRATEDS

ExxonMobil was cut by Citigroup to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy.’

(Late Wednesday) Reuters - ExxonMobil has signed a deal to sell Mobil-branded fuel at 7-Eleven service stations, reviving the Mobil brand in Australia's biggest markets on the east coast since it sold its retail assets to 7-Eleven in 2010.

INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATEDS

Reuters - Norway's Statoil called off its Kristin gas project on Thursdayciting rising costs in one of the world's most expensive oil markets.

CANADIAN INTEGRATEDS

Press Release - Husky Energy has sanctioned two new heavy oil thermal projects in Saskatchewan, which will deliver a total of 20,000 barrels per day (bbls/day) of production.

U.S. E&PS

Denbury Resources was cut to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at SunTrust Robinson.

(Late Wednesday) Press Release - Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development, production and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources, with an emphasis on oil and natural gas shale and other unconventional plays and with a current focus on its Eagle Ford operations in South Texas and its Permian Basin operations in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas, today provided an update on various aspects of its business.

CANADIAN E&PS

Reuters - Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, Canada's largest oil producer, said on Thursday it had dropped plans to dispose of its Montney shale-gas property after failing to attract a suitable offer.

Reuters - Canadian oil firm Pacific Rubiales launched a tender to sell one 500,000 barrel cargo of medium Colombian Vasconia crude, while state-run Petroperu is separately offering one 200,000 barrel cargo of virgin naphtha for delivery in February, according to documents seen by Reuters.

OIL SERVICES

Halliburton and Forum Energy Technologies were raised to ‘Sector Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’ at Howard Weil.

(Late Wednesday) Press Release - Pioneer Energy Services announced it has renewed its drilling contracts with Ecopetrol for all eight of its drilling rigs in Colombia effective January 1, 2014. Pioneer recently operated six rigs for Ecopetrol under contracts that expired on December 31, 2013. The renewed contracts have a one-year fixed term and a slight improvement in day rates as compared to the current contracts.

Tetra Technologies was lowered to ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Sector Outperform’ at Howard Weil.

DRILLERS

Howard Weil cut Ensco Plc to ‘Sector Outperform’ from ‘Focus Stock’ and cut Diamond Offshore Drilling ‘Sector Perform’ from ‘Sector Outperform.’

REFINERS

Reuters - CVR Energy Inc reported a process upset at a catalytic cracking unit at its 70,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, according to a filing with state regulators made public on Thursday.

Reuters - Phillips 66 reported flaring at its 362,000-barrels-per-day Wood River refinery in Roxana, Illinois, according to a filing with state pollution regulators on Wednesday.

MLPS

Reuters - Buckeye Partners LP reported a spill of about 100 gallons of jet fuel due to equipment failure on a steel pipeline at its Chicago terminal in Ohio, according to a filing with regulators.

Press Release - Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. announced today that it has reopened the open season to solicit capacity commitments from shippers to transport refined petroleum products to Little Rock, Arkansas. Binding commitments are now due by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on Jan. 16, 2014.

Press Release - Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. and Plains GP Holdings today announced their quarterly cash distributions. The distributions will be payable on February 14, 2014 to holders of record of each security at the close of business on January 31, 2014.

Credit Suisse cut Western Refining Logistics to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ and raised Tesoro Logistics to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral.’