Energy stocks advanced Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 0.2% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 0.5%.
The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing up 2.2%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index increased 0.2%.
Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.7% to $71.53 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract added 1.4% to $74.75 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures gained 1.7% to $3.27 per 1 million BTU.
In sector news, US natural gas stocks rose by 76 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 19, larger than the 69 billion cubic foot increase expected in a Bloomberg survey and following an increase of 73 billion cubic feet in the previous week.
In corporate news, Chevron (CVX) said its Venezuelan business is still operational and all of its workers are accounted for after back-to-back earthquakes in the country, Bloomberg reported, citing a company statement. Chevron shares were up 0.1%.
Prairie Operating Co. (PROP) said Thursday it promoted Gregory Patton to chief executive and a board member, and also named Michael Shelly as chief financial officer. Shares jumped 11%.
TotalEnergies (TTE) must spell out the climate risks tied to emissions from its oil and gas products and detail how it plans to address them, the Paris Judicial Court ruled Thursday, Reuters reported, citing a summary of the decision. Shares eased 0.2%.