09:00 AM EDT, 09/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were steady premarket Wednesday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) recently unchanged.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was 0.1% lower and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was up 1.4%.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 0.4% at $70.08 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil lost 0.4% to $73.45 per barrel, and natural gas futures were up 1.9% at $2.24 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Helix Energy Solutions Group ( HLX ) shares advanced by over 2% after it announced a new multi-year contract with Shell (SHEL) subsidiary Shell Offshore starting in 2025 to continue providing well intervention services in the US Gulf of Mexico.