03:17 PM EDT, 03/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were rising late Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 0.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) increasing 0.1%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was posting a 0.4% gain, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was up 0.3%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1.2 million barrels in the week ended March 15 following a decrease of 900,000 barrels in the previous week.

Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 2 million barrels after a 1.5-million-barrel decline in the previous week, a larger drop than the 1-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude was declining 2.1% to $81.68 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent was down 1.6% to $85.97 a barrel. Henry Hub natural-gas futures were 2.9% lower at $1.69 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, FirstEnergy ( FE ) raised its quarterly dividend to $0.425 a share from $0.41. Its shares were shedding 0.2%.