09:08 AM EDT, 03/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were gaining premarket Monday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) recently advancing by 0.3%.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was 0.5% higher and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was up 3.2%.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.6% at $81.02 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea crude oil gained 0.5% to $85.73 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 5.4% higher at $1.74 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

TotalEnergies (TTE) was up 0.2% after saying it has reached over 1.5 gigawatts in renewable power purchase agreements with more than 600 customers globally.