Energy stocks were higher late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index gaining 1% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) up 0.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index advanced 0.4%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index climbed 2.4%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2% to $104.75 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent dropped 3.4% to $114.01 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures rose 4.4% to $2.76 per 1 million BTU.

In sector news, US natural gas stocks rose by 79 billion cubic feet in the week ended April 24, slower than the 83 billion increase expected in a Bloomberg survey and following an increase of 103 billion cubic feet in the previous week.

In corporate news, Southern (SO) shares climbed 2.6% after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.32, up from $1.23 a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $1.21.

Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX) and KKR (KKR) are among the final bidders for a major stake in Shell's (SHEL) LNG Canada project in a deal that could top $10 billion and reach as much as $15 billion, Reuters reported. Shell shares rose 2.1%.

TotalEnergies (TTE) and partner Nextnorth have reached financial close and broke ground on a 440 MWp solar power plant in Ilagan, Philippines, the companies said. TotalEnergies shares added 1.4%.

BP (BP) has signed an agreement with Venezuela to explore offshore natural gas, as the country's energy sector gathers momentum following the US capture of Nicolas Maduro in January, Bloomberg reported. BP shares were up 1.2%.