03:46 PM EDT, 05/30/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks fell late Friday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index down 0.5% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) dropping 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index declined 1.6%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 1%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 0.4% to $60.72 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent shed 0.4% to $63.90 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 2.1% to $3.45 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Civitas Resources ( CIVI ) holds quality assets that support its valuation, but upside is constrained by oil market uncertainty and high leverage, RBC Capital Markets said. RBC downgraded the stock to sector perform from outperform and cut its price target to $40 from $47. Civitas shares fell 2.4%.

California Resources ( CRC ) shares jumped 4.6% after Barclays upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight and increased the price target to $60 from $50.

EOG Resources ( EOG ) agreed to buy Encino Acquisition Partners for $5.6 billion, including debt, to expand its presence in the Utica shale basin. EOG shares fell 0.9%.

The US Energy Department terminated 24 awards issued by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations totaling over $3.7 billion issued during the Biden's administration, the agency said. The cancellations include a $332 million award to an Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) project at the Baytown, Texas refinery complex, Reuters reported. Exxon shares shed 0.8%.

Sempra's ( SRE ) infrastructure unit said the US Department of Energy issued a permit for the Port Arthur LNG phase 2 development project in Texas allowing the export up to 13.5 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas to countries without a free-trade agreement with the US. Sempra ( SRE ) shares added 0.8%.