03:30 PM EDT, 07/11/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index up 0.8% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) adding 0.9%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index climbed 2.1%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index gained 1.1%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.9% to $82.97 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent advanced 0.7% to $85.68 a barrel.

US natural-gas stocks rose 65 billion cubic feet in the week ended Friday, a larger gain than the 56 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following an increase of 32 billion in the previous week. Stocks at 3.199 trillion are 9.7% higher than in the comparable week a year earlier and 18.7% above the five-year average.

Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 2.4% to $2.27 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Pure Cycle ( PCYO ) shares jumped 6.5%, a day after the company reported fiscal Q3 earnings of $0.12 a share, down from $0.14 a year earlier. Revenue rose to $7.6 million from $6.9 million.