03:27 PM EST, 01/29/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks edged up late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) both increasing 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index shed 0.4%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index added 0.2%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose 3.7 million barrels in the week ended Friday following a decrease of 800,000 in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose 3.5 million after a drop of 1 million in the previous week, a bigger gain than the rise of 2.2 million expected in a Bloomberg survey.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1.2% to $72.90 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent fell 0.9% to $76.80 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures rose 1.8% to $3.54 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Chevron ( CVX ) is expected to provide near-term guidance as part of its Q4 earnings report later this week highlighting enhanced free cash flow projections for 2025 and 2026, RBC Capital Markets said. Chevron ( CVX ) shares dropped 0.3%.