03:41 PM EDT, 06/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks gained late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 1.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) climbing 2.1%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index climbed 1%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 0.6%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell 2.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday following an increase of 4.1 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 2.5 million after a 3.7 million increase in the previous week, a smaller drop than the 2.8 million decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:45 am ET.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.7% to $82.17 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.9% to $85.87 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures tumbled 5.7% to $2.74 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Sasol ( SSL ) shares rose 6.4% after a court in South Africa ordered Transnet SOC to pay damages to the company in a tariff dispute.

Trio Petroleum ( TPET ) appointed its co-founder and former director Robin Ross as board chairman, succeeding co-founder Stan Eschner. The shares added 0.7%.

Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) shares jumped 4.7% after the company disclosed new deals with several municipalities.

LanzaTech (LNZA) shares rose 1.1% after the company increased its stake in LanzaJet, a sustainable aviation fuel technology provider and fuel producer, to 36% from 23%.