01:42 PM EDT, 09/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index up 0.2% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) rising 0.6%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was posting a 0.4% decline, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was shedding 0.4%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 13 following an increase of 1.1 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 1.6 million barrels after an 800,000-barrel increase in the previous week, a larger drop than the 100,000-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was declining 0.9% to $70.58 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract shed 0.6% to $73.26 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures fell 0.9% to $2.30 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, HNR Acquisition said it has changed its name and ticker symbol to EON Resources (EONR) from Wednesday to reflect its conversion to an oil production firm from a special purpose acquisition company. Its shares were falling 3%.

Golar LNG (GLNG) said it signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract worth $1.6 billion with CIMC Raffles for a MK II Floating LNG Production vessel. Golar shares were shedding 0.9%.

TotalEnergies (TTE) said it has signed a heads of agreement with BOTAS to deliver 1.1 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually for 10 years starting 2027. TotalEnergies shares eased 0.1%.