News

Energy stocks were higher late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index adding 0.8% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) rising 0.9%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was posting a 1.9% drop and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was down 0.2%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising 1.5% to $77.92 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract was advancing 0.6% to $82.89 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were 2.04% higher at $2.10 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, shares of major oilfield service companies were in the red after several media outlets reported that oil giant Saudi Aramco shelved a planned increase in maximum oil production capacity by 1 million barrels per day. Schlumberger (SLB) dropped 7.4%, Seadrill (SDRL) shed 2.7%, Baker Hughes (BKR) fell 1.7% and Halliburton (HAL) was down 1.3%.

Helmerich & Payne (HP) shares were gaining 12.6%, a day after the company's fiscal Q1 results beat analyst estimates.

Avangrid (AGR) said Tuesday it will build a 147.5 megawatt wind farm with 33 turbines in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, this year, expanding its presence in the US to 25 states. Its shares fell 0.4%.

Dominion Energy (D) said Tuesday it has received the final two major federal approvals required to break ground on its 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, keeping the planned largest offshore windfarm in the US on budget and on schedule to start offshore construction in Q2. Its shares edged up 0.2%.

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