08:57 AM EDT, 09/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were declining premarket Wednesday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) 0.2% lower recently.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was down 0.7% while the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 1.4% higher.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down almost 1% at $70.51 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil lost 0.9% to $73.05 per barrel, and natural gas futures were up 1.7% at $2.36 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Golar LNG (GLNG) shares were up more than 3% after the company said it signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract worth $1.6 billion with CIMC Raffles.