02:04 PM EDT, 06/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks fell Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index decreasing 0.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) down 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index shed 0.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 0.4%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 11.2 million barrels in the week ended Friday following a decrease of 3.4 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 11.5 million after a decline of 3.6 million in the previous week, a larger drop than the decrease of 2.5 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

US natural gas stocks rose by 95 billion cubic feet in the week ended Friday, smaller than the 97 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following the gain of 109 billion in the previous week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.2% to $74.69 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent dropped 0.3% to $76.24a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures rose 3.5% to $3.99 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Marathon Petroleum ( MPC ) shares fell 1% after Evercore ISI started coverage of the stock with an in line rating and $170 price target.

FutureFuel ( FF ) plans to idle biodiesel production temporarily at its Batesville, Arkansas, facility by the end of June amid "regulatory uncertainty." FutureFuel ( FF ) shares dropped 3.7%.

Ormat Technologies ( ORA ) shares gained 5.9% after the company completed its takeover of the 20-megawatt Blue Mountain geothermal power plant in Nevada from Cyrq Energy for $88 million.