Shares of oil service companies fall on Gulf spill, drilling moratorium

Sector Snap: Oil services companies slip

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Shares of oil service companies and other companies connected to the spill in the Gulf of Mexico fell Tuesday, dragged lower by BP’s inability to end the massive crude spill and an analyst’s downgrade because of the government moratorium on drilling in the Gulf.

The shares followed BP lower after the oil giant said Saturday that its “top kill” method for stopping the spill failed after engineers tried for three days to overwhelm the crippled well with heavy drilling mud and junk 5,000 feet underwater.

Morgan Stanley analyst Ole Slorer downgraded Oceaneering International to “Underweight” because of the six-month drilling moratorium and cut his price target to $80. He said the moratorium means a lower utilization rate during what is typically Oceaneering’s strongest time of the year.

Slorer cut his estimate of the company’s net income this year to $3.18 per share from $3.45.

Oceaneering shares fell $5.62, or 12.2 percent, to $40.65 in afternoon trading.

BP shares lost $5.59, or 13 percent, at $37.36. Earlier BP hit a 52-week low of $36.90.

Shares of oil exploration and production company Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which has a 25 percent non-operating interest in the rig that exploded, fell $8.58, or 16.4 percent, to $44.75. Halliburton, which provided a variety of services including cementing on the rig, lost $3.16, or 12.7 percent, at $21.67. Shares of rig owner Transocean fell $5.44, or 9.6 percent, to $51.33. Cameron International Corp., maker of a fail-safe device on the well intended to prevent spills, dropped $3.38, or 9.3 percent, to $32.82.

National Oilwell Varco shares fell $3.48, or 9.1 percent, to $34.65. Diamond Offshore Drilling gave up $3.86, or 6.1 percent, at $59.24.