VelocityShares 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETN (DWT)

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Oil Climbs, but Firms Are Still Feeling Pain - WSJ

A rally that pushed international crude-oil prices above $50 a barrel Thursday is a welcome sign for many energy companies but not enough to kick-start an industry in the midst of a two-year slump, executives said. “We’re in a little bit of an upswing at the moment and everybody’s got a smile on their face because we might be at $50 a barrel,” said Tony Durrant, chief executive of Premier Oil PLC, a British oil company with operations from the North Sea to the Falkland Islands.

But, Mr. Durrant said in an interview Thursday, “every day of every week I’m talking to our joint-venture partners around the world and I hear people still canceling projects.”

Oil prices remain far below the $100-a-barrel area that energy companies had become accustomed to during a nearly decadelong run that ended in 2014, when a global oversupply of crude sent prices skittering down to as low as $27 a barrel in January. On Thursday, Brent crude, the international benchmark, breached $50 a barrel for the first time in six weeks and, along with the U.S. benchmark, entered bull-market territory.

The rebound isn’t enough yet to solve the problems of even the biggest and most resilient oil companies.