01:45 PM EDT, 04/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 0.8% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) up 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index gained 1.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was fractionally lower.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 3.8 million barrels in the week ended March 29 following a rise of 3.9 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding SPR inventories, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 3.2 million barrels, same as in the previous week, as opposed to the 1-million-barrel decrease expected in a Bloomberg survey.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising 0.8% to $85.82 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract was advancing 0.9% to $89.67 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were down 0.6% at $1.85 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, TC Energy ( TRP ) said that Joel Hunter will step down as chief financial officer to pursue another opportunity in the energy sector. The board has tapped Sean O'Donnell to become CFO, effective May 15. Its shares were falling 1.1%.

Baker Hughes ( BKR ) rose 0.9% after it said Wednesday it won a contract in a public tender to supply three gas turbine-driven compressor trains to Snam, a European operator involved in natural gas transportation, storage and regasification.

Enterprise Products Partners ( EPD ) said Wednesday it plans to build a new natural gas processing plant in Texas to expand its operations in the Permian Basin. Its shares added 0.2%.