01:28 PM EDT, 07/23/2021 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were lower this afternoon despite a recent reversal in crude oil and natural gas prices, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index falling 1.0% while the SPDR Energy Select Sector ETF was down 0.9%.
Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising $0.09 at $72.00 per barrel, rebounding a small morning slide. The global benchmark Brent crude contract also was adding $0.22 to $74.01 per barrel while Henry Hub natural gas futures were $0.04 higher at $4.04 per 1 million BTU.
Among energy-related ETFs, the United States Oil Fund was ahead 0.5% while the United States Natural Gas Fund was adding 0.2%. The Philadelphia Oil-Service Sector index was posting a 2.5% decline although the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was rising 0.9% this afternoon.
In company news, Precision Drilling (PDS) fell 3.3% after completing the $6.4 million sale of its directional drilling business to Canadian rival Cathedral Energy Services (CET.TO). Precision also said it will make a $3 million investment in Catherdral to support the buildout of its RapidFire measurement-while-drilling guidance systems and other growth initiatives.
Petrobras (PBR) dropped 1% after the Brazilian energy major said its Q2 production averaged 2.796 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, down about 0.2% from the same quarter in 2020.
Schlumberger (SLB) was 0.6% higher, giving back some of a nearly 3% morning gain that followed the energy services giant Friday reporting adjusted Q2 net income of $0.30 per share, up from $0.05 a year ago, while revenue increased 5% year-over-year to $5.63 billion. The Street was at $0.26 per share and $5.52 billion, respectively.