09:29 AM EDT, 04/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were mostly lower premarket Friday, with the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLE ) declining 4%.

The United States Oil Fund ( USO ) was down 9.4%, while the United States Natural Gas Fund ( UNG ) was 1.4% higher.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 11% to $84.67 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil declined 9.6% to $09.10 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 0.3% higher at $2.64 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

An Astana court upheld a 2.356 trillion tenge ($5 billion) environmental fine against North Caspian Operating Company, the operator of Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field, whose shareholders include Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) , Shell (SHEL), TotalEnergies (TTE), and Eni (E), among others, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

Shell shares fell 4.7% premarket, while Exxon stock was down more than 4% before the opening bell.

TotalEnergies stock fell 4.2%, and Eni was down 5.7%.