Anadarko Petroleum shares plunge with crude prices

The stock fell $2.91, or 9.6 percent, to $27.50. Earlier in the session shares his a 52-week low of $24.57.

Meanwhile, light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $6.59 to $80 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have dropped sharply since July when they flirted with the $150 mark.

Leading Wall Street indices plunged just after the opening bell, only to regain some lost ground as the day progressed. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 128 points, or 1.49 percent, to 8,451.49 after falling almost 700 earlier in the session.

So far this year, shares of The Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko are down 63 percent.