Sector Update: Energy Stocks Drop Thursday

04:02 PM EST, 11/05/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks declined Thursday with the NYSE Energy Sector Index dropping 2.1% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) shedding 2.8%. The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index fell 4.3%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index lost 0.7%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 3.1% to $90.81 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent climbed 4% to $98.44 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures shed 0.3% to $2.95 per 1 million BTU. In sector news, US natural gas stocks rose by 77 billion cubic feet in the week ended Friday, less than the 78 billion increase expected in a Bloomberg survey and following a gain of 80 billion in the previous week. In corporate news, Expro (XPRO) shares fell 7.3% after Barclays downgraded the stock to equalweight from overweight with a price target of $14. BP (BP) sold a 5% stake in Norwegian oil and gas producer Aker BP for 311 Norwegian kroner ($33.46) per share, raising about 9.83 billion kroner in gross proceeds. BP shares fell 1.9%. ConocoPhillips (COP) posted higher Q3 adjusted earnings and revenue and raised its quarterly dividend. The shares still dropped 1.1%. Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google is making a long-term $17 billion investment to construct a data center in Wyoming. The project, contracted with American Electric Power (AEP), will feature a 702-megawatt fuel cell development with carbon capture and storage, with fuel cells to be manufactured by Bloom Energy (BE). AEP shares fell 1.9%, and Bloom Energy slumped 16%.