03:23 PM EDT, 06/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were gaining late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 1.7% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) climbing 2.1%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was up 1%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 0.8%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended June 14 following an increase of 4.1 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels after a 3.7 million barrel increase in the previous week, a smaller drop than the 2.8 million barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:45 am ET.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.7% to $82.17 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 0.9% to $85.87 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures tumbled 5.7% to $2.74 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Sasol ( SSL ) shares were rising past 6% in recent trading after a court in South Africa ordered Transnet SOC to pay damages to the company in a tariff dispute.