01:20 PM EDT, 04/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were lower Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index decreasing 0.3% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) down 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was posting a 0.9% decline, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index tumbled 2.3%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was fractionally lower at $85.21 a barrel, while the global benchmark Brent was slightly down to $89.40 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were steady at $1.87 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 6.4 million barrels in the week ended April 5 following an increase of 3.8 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks increased by 5.8 million barrels after a 3.2-million-barrel gain in the previous week, a much larger gain than the 800,000 barrel-increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Chevron ( CVX ) paid Chief Executive Michael Wirth $26.5 million in compensation for 2023, up from $23.6 million a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. Separately, Barclays started coverage of Chevron ( CVX ) with an overweight rating and $203 price target. Chevron ( CVX ) shares were down 0.6%.