04:00 PM EDT, 04/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were lower late Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index falling 3.3% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) dropping 3.5%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was up 0.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index rose 0.9%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil tumbled nearly 15% to $96.34 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract slumped 11.6% to $96.55 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 4.9% to $2.73 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week ended April 3 following an increase of 5.1 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks increased by 3.1 million barrels after a 5.5-million-barrel gain in the previous week, a larger increase than the 500,000-barrel gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Talos Energy ( TALO ) shares fell 7.5% after Roth Capital Partners downgraded the company's stock to neutral from buy and adjusted the price target to $16 from $13.

Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) expects its global oil-equivalent output to take a hit in Q1 on production disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict. Exxon shares fell 5%.

Shell (SHEL) shares declined 2.2% after the company said it expects Q1 upstream production of 1.76 million to 1.86 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared with 1.89 million in Q4.

EON Resources ( EONR ) said Wednesday it fully hedged 75% of its net production through 2027 to capitalize on oil prices exceeding $110 per barrel due to the Iran war. EON Resources ( EONR ) shares dropped 5.8%.