03:55 PM EDT, 07/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 1.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) climbing 1.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index jumped 4.2%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index fell 0.8%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1% to $78.38 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent advanced 0.9% to $82.45 a barrel.

US natural gas stocks rose by 22 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 19, above the 11 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Henry Hub natural gas futures slumped 3.5% to $2.04 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Occidental Petroleum ( OXY ) is close to reaching an agreement to sell its Barilla Draw assets in Texas to Permian Resources ( PR ) for an estimated $1 billion, Reuters reported. Occidental shares added 1.2% and Permian gained 0.8%.

RPC (RES) shares jumped 20.2% after the company's Q2 adjusted earnings topped analysts' estimates.

Helmerich & Payne (HP) shares jumped 10.5% after the company struck a deal to buy drilling firm KCA Deutag International and reported better-than-expected fiscal Q3 results.

Oceaneering International ( OII ) shares were adding 14% in recent Thursday trading, a day after the company reported a year-over-year increase in its Q2 results.