Energy stocks gained late Thursday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.8% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 0.5%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index advanced 2.5%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index fell 0.6%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil shed 0.9% to $83.71 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent fell 1.8% to $89.09 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures rose 0.8% to $2.75 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Shell (SHEL) shares rose 2.6% after the company reported Q2 results that beat Wall Street estimates.