Which companies will suffer from higher oil prices?

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Which companies will suffer from higher oil prices?

October 15, 2018 - 12:00
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Higher oil prices will definitely benefit oil companies, however, as third quarter earnings season is getting close, there are some sectors that can suffer from higher energy costs, Bloomberg reports.

Photo © Gerd Altmann, CC0 1.0

Higher oil prices will definitely benefit oil companies, however, as third quarter earnings season is getting close, there are some sectors that can suffer from higher energy costs, Bloomberg reports.

We can say for sure that oil prices increased in 2018. Even despite of recent price decline, Brent gained about 26%, while WTI is 22% up.

Among suffering sectors are transportation, consumer stocks and chemical sector.

Earlier European airlines warned that growing prices will influence their operational results. During times of low-cost fuel air carriers tried to increase capacities rapidly. It means that now they have to keep air fares low to load those capacities and compete with rivals successfully. In current situation this will be difficult to achieve, and as a result not only airline will be hurt but any other company using trains, buses, airplanes or ships to transport people or goods. In Europe such companies include bus and train operators, like Getlink and FirstGroup Plc, postal services like Royal Mail Plc or Deutsche Post AG, shipping firms like A.P.-Moller Maersk A/S and Hapag-Lloyd AG.

Oil derivatives account for about third of costs for consumer products manufacturers, this is why growing oil prices might hurt consumer stocks. Fashion companies that use large amounts of synthetic fabrics will suffer as well, including Industria de Diseno Textil SA and Hennes & Mauritz AB.

In general, oil price growth benefits chemical industry as it is correlated with positive economic environment. However, companies using petroleum products as input materials may face higher costs, including engineering plastic unit of Lanxess AG, acrylic division of Arkema SA, chemical unit of BASF SE.