Sector Update: Energy Stocks Decline Pre-Bell Friday

Energy stocks were declining pre-bell Friday as the Energy Select Sector SPDR XLE was recently shedding over 4% in value. The United States Oil Fund USO was over 6% lower and the United States Natural Gas Fund UNG was up more than 4%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down $4.51 at $73.88 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global benchmark Brent crude lost $4.32 to $77.90 per barrel and natural gas futures were 25 cents higher at $5.32 per 1 million BTU.

Halliburton's HAL Boots & Coots subsidiary was hired to seal a leaking non-producing oil well in Nigeria's Delta region, Bloomberg reported, citing an email from a company spokesperson. Halliburton was down almost 7% in recent trading.

Petroleo Brasileiro or Petrobras PBR was marginally gaining after it issued its new strategic plan for 2022 to 2026, which includes a significant increase in spending, largely to boost oil production from the subsea pre-salt area.

Equinor EQNR said it will invest around 10 billion Norwegian krone ($1.10 billion) to reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 320,000 tons annually and raise gas production at Oseberg field in the North Sea. Equinor was unchanged in recent trading.