Oil Majors Outperform as Digital, Legal Shifts Take Focus

Energy stocks advanced in late trading despite broader market weakness, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.2% Thursday afternoon. Phillips 66 ($PSX) and Halliburton ($HAL) led sector gains, rising 1.85% and 2.27% respectively, while political tensions emerged around gasoline pricing. The Trump administration indicated potential Department of Justice investigation into oil companies for price gouging, targeting donors who spent nearly $100 million supporting the election, as crude prices returned to pre-war levels while gas prices remained elevated.

ExxonMobil ($XOM) closed at $137.55, delivering 12.1% year-to-date returns and 29.0% over the past year, though the stock fell 8.2% over the past month and slipped 0.2% in the past week. The company received a significant legal victory on June 23 when a Supreme Court decision revived its billion-dollar claim involving assets seized by the Cuban government, with analysts assigning a 26.53% upside potential. Chevron ($CVX) announced on June 16 an agreement with HELLENiQ ENERGY to participate in the Block 10 concession offshore in Greece's Southern Ionian, with analysts citing 26.64% upside potential. Separately, $CVX secured a 20-year natural gas supply deal to fuel a Microsoft AI data center in Reeves County, Texas, promising 2,000 jobs and $10B in tax revenue. ConocoPhillips ($COP) announced the planned September 1, 2026 retirement of Senior Vice President, Legal, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Kelly B. Rose, as the stock traded at $106.41 with a 21.0% return over the past year and 102.3% longer-term gains, and scheduled its second-quarter earnings conference call for Thursday, August 6, 2026.

SLB ($SLB) launched the SLB Digital Marketplace in June 2026, a curated platform offering around 200 certified AI agents, domain models, data connectors, and digital applications for energy companies across its Delfi and Lumi environments. This strategic move deepens the company's open platform approach by turning its Tela agentic AI assistant into a hub where partners, developers, and customers can distribute interoperable digital tools through a single, governed channel. The marketplace positions $SLB to reshape investor views of its platform ambitions by creating a distribution ecosystem for third-party energy technology providers. Halliburton ($HAL) concluded the recent trading session at $34.67, representing a 2.27% gain from its prior day's close, outperforming in a declining market.

Phillips 66 ($PSX) settled at $171.76, gaining 1.85% from its previous close in a declining market. The company's fair value estimate was adjusted from $190.84 to $194.11 per share, providing fresh context for analyst price targets as research focuses on refining margins, tight product inventories, and progress on refining and midstream plans. Analysts linked the updated valuation work to shifting inputs around earnings expectations and operational progress. The upward revision in fair value comes as refining sector fundamentals show strength amid tight product inventories.

Georgia Power (subsidiary of Southern Company / $SO) opened enrollment for the new Clean and Renewable Energy Subscription Customer Identified Resource (CARES CIR) program, which the Georgia Public Service Commission approved in the 2025 Integrated Resource Plan stipulated agreement. The utility routinely seeks utility-scale and distributed solar generation resources through competitive request for proposals processes, in which renewable energy project developers can participate. The program represents ongoing commitment to clean energy expansion through structured customer subscription offerings. NextEra Energy ($NEE) appeared in discussions of portfolio construction strategies focused on generating income to fund vehicle replacement cycles and other long-term expenses.