Stocks of energy companies, including US energy majors Chevron and ExxonMobil gained after positive news of an effective coronavirus vaccine, which instilled economic recovery hopes and the possibility of an oil demand rebound.
US biotech company Moderna reported on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate is 94.5% successful. The move came one week after another US drugmaker Pfizer and the German biotech company BioNTech revealed that their coronavirus vaccine candidate was more than 90% successful.
Shares of energy companies, including Chevron rose by 7.1%, ExxonMobil by 5.8%, Kinder Morgan by 4.1%, Equinor by 5%, Baker Hughes by 5.1% and Schlumberger by 11.3% in hopes of higher energy demand to drive prices upward.
Promising coronavirus vaccine developments come at a time when the number of cases of COVID-19 is on the rise and has prompted many countries to implement lockdowns and take stringent steps to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
As the need for energy has decreased, the global oil market was first to see an unprecedented collapse to the point where oil prices dropped to historic lows and the share prices of oil giants were severely hit.
Suffering from low oil prices, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Equinor, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger posted net losses of $207 million, $680 million, $2.12 billion, $170 million and $82 million, respectively.
(Anadolu Agency, November 17, 2020)
