Energy stocks were lower Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index down 0.7% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) falling 0.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index dropped 1.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was shedding 1.3%.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 2.2 million barrels in the week ended May 16 following an increase of 4 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels after a 3.5-million-barrel increase in the previous week, compared with the 1.1-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was easing 0.6% to $61.64 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract was decreasing 0.7% to $64.97 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were 1% lower at $3.39 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Phillips 66 (PSX) shareholders voted for two Elliott Investment Management nominees to the oil refiner's board based on preliminary results, the companies said separately on Wednesday. Phillips 66 shares were falling more than 5%.

AES (AES) said Wednesday it has signed two long-term power purchase agreements with Meta (META) to deliver 650 megawatts of solar capacity to support Meta's data centers in Texas and Kansas. AES shares were dropping past 7%.

Ecopetrol (EC) said Wednesday it has executed an asset purchase agreement with Statkraft European Wind and Solar for the potential acquisition of its Colombia portfolio of up to 1.3 gigawatts in energy projects. Ecopetrol shares decreased 0.7%.