Energy Stocks: Energy stocks inch up; Cliffs shares tank 20%

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Most energy stocks posted small gains on Wednesday, while miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. tanked 20% after announcing quarterly losses and a dividend cut.

The iron ore and coal producer was the top decliner in the S&P 500 index SPX . Cliffs CLF �late Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.62 billion, or $11.36 a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $185 million, or $1.30 a share.

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The company said it would cut its quarterly cash dividend by 76% to 15 cents a share from 62.5 cents a share. Cliffs also said it plans to sell 9 million shares to pay debt. That implies dilution of around 17%, analysts at Dahlman Rose wrote in a note.

�Though the dividend cut was a prudent one in terms of cash management, the move to lower it after making a large increase in [the second quarter] and defending it on recent conference calls is likely to generate much shareholder angst,� the analysts said.

In other trading, Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM �shares rose 0.2%. Chevron Corp. CVX �shares were down less than 0.1%, while shares of ConocoPhillips COP �advanced 0.6%.

Exxon Mobil and Russia�s OAO Rosneft said Wednesday they have expanded their joint venture in the Russian Arctic, including 150 million acres and a potential 25% Rosneft interest in Exxon�s Point Thomson in Alaska. The Point Thomson unit covers development of a remote natural gas field on Alaska�s North Slope, the companies said.

The companies have also agreed to a joint study on a potential liquefied natural-gas project in the Russian Far East. The agreement includes plans to explore seven new blocks �among the most promising and least explored offshore areas globally,� the companies said.

Separately, Rosneft said Wednesday it has signed a $14.2 billion financing deal with a group of international banks to buy the 50% of TNK-BP from a consortium of Russian tycoons.

Rosneft said the cost of financing �is one of the lowest at the Russian corporate debt market� but did not specify the terms.

Rosneft is buying the other 50% of TNK-BP from BP PLC BP �UK:BP . The deals are worth $55 billion in cash and shares and will likely result in making Rosneft the world�s largest publicly listed oil producer.

To finance the purchase of BP�s stake, Rosneft said in December that it had obtained a five-year loan of $4.1 billion and a two-year $12.7 billion loan from international banks.

U.S.-listed shares of BP BP �declined 0.9%.

The SPDR Energy Select Sector XLE , an exchange-traded fund covering energy names, advanced 0.4%.