03:44 PM EDT, 05/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks fell late Friday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index down 0.1% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) shedding 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector was adding 0.4% and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was rising 0.7%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 1.1% to $78.09 a barrel, while the global benchmark Brent crude contract dropped 0.9% to $82.90 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures jumped 5.9% to $2.15 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Occidental Petroleum ( OXY ) is looking into the possibility of a sale of a portion of its operations in the Permian Basin that might be valued at more than $1 billion, Reuters reported Friday. Occidental shares were falling 0.3%.

PPL (PPL) said in a regulatory filing Friday its management expects to reaffirm its outlook for 2024 earnings from ongoing operations of $1.63 to $1.75 a share at meetings with analysts and investors. Its shares rose 0.5%.

Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) said Friday it has closed its acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. The acquisition more than doubles Exxon's Permian production volume to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is expected to increase to about 2 million in 2027, the company said. Exxon shares shed 0.5%.

A consortium including Glencore and Indonesia's Chandra Asri Pacific is in advanced talks to buy Shell's (SHEL) assets in Singapore in a deal that could be worth $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. Shell was up 0.5%.