03:25 PM EDT, 04/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index little changed and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) gaining 0.3%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was little changed, paring earlier declines, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index fell 2.1%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.2% $86.25 a barrel, while the global benchmark Brent added 1.2% to $90.53 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures gained 0.5% to $1.88 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 larger gain than the 800,000-barrel increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Petrobras (PBR) Chief Executive Officer Jean Paul Prates is set to stay in charge of the state-controlled oil giant for now as internal government skirmishes over the position eased, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Petrobras shares rose 1.2%.