03:20 PM EST, 02/27/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher late Thursday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index up 0.3% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) adding 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index increased 0.2%, while the Dow Jones US Utilities index was falling 1.7%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.4% to $70.25 a barrel while the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 1.9% to $73.94 a barrel.

US natural gas stocks fell by 261 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 21, compared with a larger decrease of 271 billion expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a decrease of 196 billion cubic feet in the previous week.

Henry Hub natural gas futures shed 0.3% to $3.95 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, FirstEnergy ( FE ) shares were down 10% in recent trading, a day after the company said it will adopt core earnings as the basis for measuring growth performance to exclude volatile items starting this year.