Refiners Still in Focus for Shorts (BHI, BP, CHK, CVX, COP, EPD, XOM, KMI, NOV, PSX, SLB, RIG, VLO)

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) saw short interest fall by 5.4% to 12.88 million shares, or 2.9% of the company’s total float.

BP PLC (NYSE: BP) short interest rose 29.7% to 8.58 million shares, 0.3% of the company’s float. This is the second consecutive spike in short interest in BP.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) saw a 5.5% rise in short interest to 75.78 million shares, which represents about 11.6% of the firm’s float.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) short interest fell 1.1% to 16.4 million shares, which represents 0.8% of the company’s float.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) saw a 2.7% rise in short interest to 26.56 million shares, which represents 2.7% of the firm’s float.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) saw short interest fall 11.4% to 1.6 million shares, 0.3% of the company’s total float. This is the second consecutive drop of more than 10% in short interest.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) saw short interest drop 0.3% to 39.174 million shares, 0.9% of the company’s total float.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) short interest rose 10.8% to 7.66 million shares, which represents 1.3% of the company’s float.

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) saw short interest fall 9.4% to 5.11 million shares, about 1.2% of the company’s total float.

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) saw a 15.3% rise in short interest to 11.97 million shares, which represents 1.9% of the firm’s float.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) short interest rise 0.4% to 13.55 million shares, which represents 1% of the company’s float.

Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) saw an 8.3% fall in short interest to 3.46 million shares, which represents 1% of the firm’s float.

Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) saw a 26.7% rise in short interest to 20.62 million shares, which represents 3.8% of the firm’s float.

Dropping crude prices and lower U.S. demand for gasoline continued to raise short interest in refining companies. Schlumberger fares better than Baker Hughes in the services business due to its non-North American contracts. And, except for BP, there’s not much action in the supermajors.

Paul Ausick