04:07 PM EDT, 03/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher late Friday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 1.3% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 1.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 1%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was up 0.6%.

In sector news, oil prices rose as tensions remained elevated in the Middle East amid the Iran war. Israel said it will "escalate" its strikes in response to a series of Iranian missiles, CNN reported Friday. Iran's Navy turned away three ships from the crucial Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day, the news outlet reported, citing the semi-official news agency Fars.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed rose 5.9% to $100.11 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract gained 4.4% to $112.78 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were 3.2% higher at $3.10 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Entergy ( ETR ) shares jumped past 6% after its unit Entergy Louisiana said Friday it has agreed to an expanded power supply contract with Meta Platforms (META) to support the technology company's Northeast Louisiana computing facility.

Chevron (CVX) and Woodside Energy's ( WDS ) liquefied natural gas production in Western Australia has been impacted after outages caused by a cyclone in the region, the companies said in separate emailed statements to MT Newswires Friday. Chevron shares were up 1.6%, and Woodside climbed 4%.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) interests in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium are not being targeted by Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to multiple reports. Peskov's comments came after some Russian commentators had suggested restricting Kazakh oil exports through the pipeline in response to US sanctions, according to the reports. Exxon shares added 3.3%.

TotalEnergies (TTE) and EDF said Friday they have signed a 12-year Nuclear Production Allocation Contract starting Jan. 1, 2028, aimed at securing long-term electricity supply for TotalEnergies' industrial operations in France. TotalEnergies shares were down 0.1%.