Sector Update: Energy Stocks Edge Higher in Afternoon Trading

01:58 PM EDT, 10/21/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were slightly higher Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 0.3% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) up 0.1%. The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 1.7%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index increased 0.5%. Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.8% to $97 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract shed 0.01% to $108.78 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures dropped 5.5% to $2.80 per 1 million BTU. In sector news, Russia will send its first tanker carrying diesel fuel to the US on Thursday under its supply agreement with the US, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday during a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, Vedomosti reported. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the first tanker is scheduled to depart for the US on Oct. 22, with further shipments expected to follow, the report said. US commercial crude oil stocks, excluding inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 16, after an 8.6-million-barrel decrease in the previous week, versus the 340,000-barrel decline expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. In corporate news, PG&E (PCG) said Wednesday its filing with the California Public Utilities Commission stated the government's takeover of its electric distribution grid in San Francisco would cost $22.5 billion, significantly higher than the City and County of San Francisco municipal government's fair-market estimate of $3.4 billion. PG&E shares were up 0.6%. Shell (SHEL) and Equinor (EQNR) have secured Britain's approval for the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea to begin supplying gas to British homes and businesses as early as the end of October, the UK government said. Shell shares were down 0.5%, and Equinor added 0.1%. Eni (E) and Snam's joint Ravenna CCS Phase 2 project has been selected by the European Commission for funding under a 2025 innovation fund called Net-Zero Technologies, the companies said. Eni shares rose 0.6%.