03:53 PM EDT, 03/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index increasing 0.2% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) up 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index gained 0.7%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index fell 1.2%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.7% to $81.05 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 1.4% to $85.17 a barrel.

US natural gas stocks fell by 9 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 8, a larger drop than the 2 billion cubic feet decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a decrease of 40 billion cubic feet in the previous week.

Henry Hub natural gas futures jumped 5.3% to $1.75 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Chevron's ( CVX ) cost for boosting oil production at Kazakhstan's Tengiz field increased by $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Chevron ( CVX ) shares were rising 0.7%.

Shell (SHEL) said it is lowering its net carbon intensity target for 2030. "We are now targeting a 15% to 20% reduction by 2030 in the net carbon intensity of the energy products we sell, compared with 2016, against our previous target of 20%," the company said. Shell shares fell 0.3%.

Cummins (CMI) said Thursday that its offer to its shareholders to exchange their shares for Atmus Filtration Technologies ( ATMU ) stock owned by Cummins was oversubscribed based on preliminary results. Cummins shares fell 2.9%, while Atmus was rising 1.4%.

Marathon Oil ( MRO ) shares rose 1.1% as Argus upgraded the company to buy from hold.