The 20 best-performing S&P 500 stocks in the first quarter were dominated by energy names as oil and gas shares soar on supply disruptions

• The S&P 500’s top 20 gainers in Q1 were mostly shares in oil and gas stocks. 
• The S&P 500 Energy Sector jumped about 40% as energy prices soared on supply concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 
• Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton were the top two gainers on the broad-equity index. 

The energy group was by far the best performing sector on the S&P 500 in the first quarter, with oil and gas stocks populating the bulk of the benchmark’s big winners at the end of a volatile quarter for US equities. 

The S&P 500 Energy Sector was up 39.6% as of Wednesday before heading into the last trading session of the quarter on Thursday. The S&P 500 itself was dragged into a correction during the period but pared its loss to around 4%. 

Stocks in the energy sector — comprised of 21 companies, including energy equipment and service providers — climbed on the back of surging prices, particularly after major oil producer Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate crude each added nearly 40% during the period as prices leapt beyond $100 a barrel. 

Occidental Petroleum was the S&P 500’s top percentage gainer for the first three months of the year as its stock price soared by around 98% to $57.48 as of Wednesday’s close. A prominent investor in the shale producer was Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle by mid-March poured $7 billion into the energy stock in just 11 trading days. 

Oilfield services companies Halliburton and Baker Hughes were the S&P 500’s second- and fourth-best performers with respective year-to-date gains of roughly 68% and 56%. Sandwiched in between those names was potash producer Mosaic, as fertilizer prices also soared on concerns about supply shortages from potash giant Russia. 

Marathon Oil, Hess, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil were also among the S&P 500’s top 20 advancers for the quarter. 

Global oil supply disruptions are headed to 5 million to 6 million barrels per day as sanctions against Russia hit supplies at a time of high demand for oil, according to calculations by Reuters. 

There were widespread news reports Thursday that said the Biden administration is close to finalizing a plan to release around 1 million barrels of oil a day from strategic US reserves in an effort to tame the spike in energy inflation.