03:25 PM EDT, 10/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks fell late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index dropping 1.1% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) down 0.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index dropped 1.6%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 0.7%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose 6.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday following a decrease of 1.2 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks increased 5.5 million after a decline of 2.2 million in the previous week, a larger gain than the gain of 1 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1.3% to $70.78 a barrel while global benchmark Brent dropped 1.4% to $75 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures jumped 3.5% to $2.39 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Shell (SHEL) unit Shell Energy North America agreed to buy Risec Holdings, which owns a 609-megawatt two-unit combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in Rhode Island. Shell shares fell 1.1%.