** Shares of U.S. oil and gas companies rise, as crude prices hover near 2-week highs O/R
** Brent crude LCOc1 up 1.2% at $70.45/bbl and U.S. WTI crude CLc1 up 1.1% at $68.72/bbl, as investors assessed the latest developments on U.S. tariffs and a higher than expected increase to OPEC+ output for August
** Both crude benchmarks are on track for their highest closes since June 23 for a second day in a row
** Energy majors Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N up 2.6% and 3.3%, respectively
** Separately, Exxon on Monday flagged lower oil and gas prices could cut its second-quarter earnings by about $1.5 billion from the previous three months, though analysts viewed the update as "neutral"
** Shares of Devon Energy DVN.N jump ~7% - the top pct gainer on the S&P 500 Energy index .SPNY; APA APA.O, Halliburton HAL.N both over 6.5% and Occidental Petroleum OXY.N rises 5.4%
** Oilfield services providers SLB SLB.N and Baker Hughes BKR.O rise 4.4% and 3.3%, respectively
** Refiners: Marathon Petroleum MPC.N up 1.7%, Phillips 66 PSX.N gains 2.7% and Valero Energy VLO.N up over 3%
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru)
((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.