Oil and Gas Short Interest Subdued on Rising Oil Prices (BHI, BP, CHK, CVX, COP, EPD, XOM, KMI, NOV, PSX, SLB, RIG, VLO)

We have tracked the key short interest changes in the following oil and gas leaders: Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), BP PLC (NYSE: BP), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI), National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO).

With the exception of Chesapeake, which is seen as primarily a natural gas company with lots of problems, the oil and gas firms are not heavily shorted. Nobody really thinks the price of oil is going to collapse — and that is probably a safe bet.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) saw short interest drop 9.3% to 15.9 million shares, or 3.6% of the company’s total float.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) short interest rose 7.8% to 9.5 million shares, which represents just 0.3% of the company’s float.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) saw a 4.3% rise in short interest to 91.7 million shares, which represents about 14.1% of the firm’s float.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) short interest rose 1.3% to 24.8 million shares, which represents just 1.3% of the company’s float.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) saw a 13.1% drop in short interest to 29.2 million shares, which represents 2.5% of the firm’s float.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) saw short interest drop 13.4% to 3.8 million shares, just 0.7% of the company’s total float.

ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) saw short interest rise 5.8% to 41.2 million shares, just 0.9% of the company’s total float.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) short interest jumped a whopping 42.5% to 11.3 million shares, which represents 2% of the company’s float.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) saw short interest rise 18.6% to 5.9 million shares, about 1.4% of the company’s total float.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) saw a 1.1% rise in short interest to 7.4 million shares, which represents 1.2% of the firm’s float.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) short interest jumped a 13.5% to 15.3 million shares, which represents 1.22% of the company’s float.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) saw a 8.2% drop in short interest to 3.6 million shares, which represents 1.1% of the firm’s float.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) saw a 20.7% rise in short interest to 13.1 million shares, which represents 2.4% of the firm’s float.