09:05 AM EDT, 10/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were declining premarket Tuesday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) 2.5% lower recently.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was down 4.3% and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was nearly 1% higher.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 4.2% lower at $70.71 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil lost 3.9% to $74.44 per barrel, and natural gas futures were up 0.8% at $2.52 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Shell (SHEL) is being asked to pay at least 1 billion euros ($1.09 billion) in damages by the Russian General Prosecutor's office, the RIA news agency reported, citing the Moscow Arbitration court. Shell shares were down past 3% pre-bell.