03:42 PM EDT, 09/11/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks declined late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index decreasing 0.2% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) shedding 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index rose 0.7%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index fell 0.3%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rebounded by 1.1 million barrels in the week ended Friday following a decrease of 5.1 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 800,000 after a drop of 6.9 million in the previous week, below the gain of 1.1 million gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:35 am ET.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.2% to $67.17 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent advanced 1.9% to $70.53 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures climbed 1.7% to $2.27 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Enlight Renewable Energy ( ENLT ) shares rose 3.2% after the company started initial commercial operations at its Atrisco Solar & Energy Storage project outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.

FTC Solar ( FTCI ) shares doubled, a day after the company got an initial three-year deal from Strata Clean Energy to supply about 500 megawatts of its Voyager 2P solar tracker technology for multiple projects in the US.

Centrus Energy ( LEU ) stock gained 9.7% after the company signed a supply deal with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power for low-enriched uranium to back the construction of new enrichment facilities at its American Centrifuge Plant in Ohio.

Energy Fuels ( UUUU ) shares jumped 7.9% after initial drilling intercepts at the company's Nichols Ranch uranium mine in Wyoming's Powder River Basin showed "stronger mineralization than anticipated."