03:46 PM EDT, 09/04/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks advanced late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) adding 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index climbed 2.8%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index eased 0.3%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1% to $63.32 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent dropped 1.1% to $66.84 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures rose 0.8% to $3.09 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 2.9 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 29 following a decrease of 1.6 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 2.4 million barrels after a 2.4-million-barrel drop in the previous week, compared with a 1.9-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Centuri ( CTRI ) shares gained 3.3% after Southwest Gas ( SWX ) said Wednesday that it priced its registered public offering of about 27.4 million shares of Centuri ( CTRI ) common stock at $19.60 per share. Southwest Gas ( SWX ) shares were down 1%.