01:44 PM EDT, 06/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were declining Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index declining 0.8% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) down 0.9%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was posting a 0.7% drop, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was shedding 0.5%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended June 21 following a decrease of 2.2 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding SPR inventories, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 3.6 million barrels after a 2.5-million-barrel decrease in the previous week, compared with the 2.8-million-barrel decrease expected in a Bloomberg survey.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising 0.7% to $81.36 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract was advancing 0.8% to $85.71 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures slumped 4.6% to $2.63 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, the BP (BP) refinery fire that killed two brothers in 2022 was the "last in a series of cascading events" that began about 24 hours before, according to the US Chemical Safety Board's final report into the incident on Monday. BP shares were falling 1%.

Sempra ( SRE ) shares added 0.5% after the company and Aramco said Wednesday that their subsidiaries have signed a non-binding heads of agreement for the Port Arthur LNG phase 2 expansion project.

Phillips 66 (PSX) said Wednesday that it has completed the conversion of its Rodeo facility in the San Francisco Bay Area to expand its renewable fuel output. Its shares were shedding 0.8%.