01:56 PM EDT, 06/27/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were mixed Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.4% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) fractionally lower.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index gained 0.3%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was 0.1% lower.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 0.7% to $81.48 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.8% to $85.95 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 1.2% to $2.71 per 1 million BTU.

US natural gas stocks rose 52 billion cubic feet in the week ended Friday, below the 54 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following the gain of 71 billion in the previous week.

In other news, the US Supreme Court blocked an effort by the federal government to reject individual state plans to control ozone pollution and replace them with a single, uniform rule.

In corporate news, Tamboran Resources (TBN) shares fell 9.2% in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange after the company priced its initial public offering of 3.13 million shares at $24 apiece.

Schlumberger ( SLB ) gained 1.4%. The firm said its SLB OneSubsea unit has been awarded a contract by Equinor (EQNR) for the front-end engineering design of a 12-well, all-electric Subsea Production Systems project in the Fram Sor field, offshore Norway.

SM Energy ( SM ) shares tumbled 10.5%. The firm struck a deal to buy 80% of the Uinta Basin oil and gas assets of XCL Resources for $2.04 billion, with Northern Oil and Gas ( NOG ) acquiring the balance for $510 million in cash.