Energy stocks gain, shaking off weakness

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Energy stocks advanced Tuesday, gaining ground after starting the day in the red as the broader U.S. equity market also found firmer footing.

Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM �shares gained 0.2%. Competitors Chevron Corp. CVX �and ConocoPhillips COP �advanced 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively.

As earnings season draws to a close, analysts at Tudor Pickering Holt said they remain neutral on integrated oil-and-gas companies, having a buy rating only on Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDS.A .

Reuters Energy shares are rebounding from earlier weakness.

The integrated companies� fourth-quarter results missed Tudor Pickering Holt�s expectations by 3% and Wall Street consensus by 1%, the analysts said.

U.S.-listed shares of Shell advanced 0.6%.

The Anglo-Dutch company sent two Arctic drilling rigs to Asia for repairs, according to media reports.

That included the Kulluk, the rig that ran aground on New Year�s Eve and cast doubts over Shell�s Arctic exploration plans.

The company said it has not made a final decision about Alaska drilling this year.

Shares of Apache Corp. APA �turned higher, ending the day up 0.4%. The company said it has raised its quarterly dividends to 20 cents a share from 17 cents a share, giving strong �cash-flow generating capacity of Apache�s portfolio and its solid financial position.�

Apache has a history of regularly increasing its dividend payment, and �the substantial uptick in payout seems warranted and should be received positively by shareholders,� analysts at Simmons & Co. said in a note to clients.

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Apache is slated to report fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.

The Simmons analysts have modeled $11.5 billion in discretionary cash flow this year and an estimated $10.5 billion in the company�s 2013 capital budget.

Noble Energy Inc. NBL �shares declined 0.5%. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets cut Noble Energy to market perform from outperform.

It is �hard to poke holes� in Noble�s trajectory, and the downgrade was based on valuation and the stock�s �great run� in the past six months, they said.

U.S.-listed shares of Norway�s Statoil ASA STO �advanced 0.3%.

Statoil plans to bring oil by pipeline from the Barents Sea to a new terminal in northern Norway, which could pave the way for a permanent Arctic hub, Norway�s oil minister told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.

The minister, Ola Borten Moe, was optimistic about the potential for more discoveries in the Barents Sea, and Statoil is slated to complete a drilling campaign there this summer.

The SPDR Energy Select Sector XLE , an exchange-traded fund that focuses on energy names, rose 0.3%. Crude-oil futures rose 0.5%, with the March contract CLH3 �settling at $97.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. See: Oil futures gain as OPEC raises demand forecast.