01:33 PM EDT, 06/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were in the red Monday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index falling 2.7% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) dropping 3.1%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index tumbled 5.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was decreasing 1.5%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude was dropping 3.7% to $74.16 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent was falling 3.4% to $78.33 per barrel. Henry Hub natural-gas futures jumped 3.8% to $2.69 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, ProPetro ( PUMP ) said Monday it has acquired wet sand services provider Aqua Prop in an all-cash deal initially valued at $35.6 million. ProPetro ( PUMP ) shares were down about 5%.

Shell (SHEL) has been rebuffed by an appeals court in South Africa in its bid to overturn a 2021 decision blocking the company's plans to explore for oil offshore in the country's Wild Coast region, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a summary of Monday's ruling it obtained. Shell shares were decreasing 2.4%.

Dominion Energy ( D ) said Monday it completed the sale of its Questar Gas natural-gas utility and its Wexpro cost-of-service gas supply company to Enbridge ( ENB ) for about $4.3 billion, including assumed debt. Dominion shares were down 0.6%, and Enbridge ( ENB ) was shedding 0.4%.