ADRs in Focus: Emerging markets oil and gas

Shares of emerging markets oil and gas ADRs fell in Tuesday trading as crude prices slipped on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery lost $4.73 to $136.94 a barrel on the Nymex. Last week prices had flirted with the $150 per barrel mark.

ADR stands for American Depositary Receipt, which is a security designed to allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.

Shares of Brazil's Petrobras fell $3.05, or 4.7 percent, to $61.44. The drop comes even after Lehman Brothers analyst Paul Cheng boosted his 2008 earnings outlook for the company to $5.70 from $5.10 per share.

Cheng also raised his oil price outlook for 2008 to $127 per barrel from $105 per barrel.

Meanwhile, shares of South Africa's Sasol Ltd. slipped $1.12, or 2 percent, to $54.18.

Shares of PetroChina Co. lost 90 cents to $126.27; China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. declined 42 cents to $92.94; and Hong Kong's Cnooc Ltd. fell $1.82 to $165.37.

Argentina's Petrobras Energia Participaciones SA bucked the trend, adding 10 cents to $10.88.

The Bank of New York Mellon Emerging Markets ADR Index _ which includes shares of companies based in China, South Africa, Brazil and more _ lost 5.35 points to 325.35.

The Bank of New York Mellon Composite ADR Index shed 0.98 points to 161.59 as the U.S. markets rose in afternoon trading.