03:32 PM EDT, 04/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were sharply higher late Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index jumping 6.9% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) climbing 8.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index surged 13%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index rose 3.4%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 4.6% to $62.29 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent gained 4.1% to $65.37 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures jumped 8% to $3.75 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose by 2.8 million barrels in the week ended Friday following an increase of 6.4 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks rose by 2.6 million after a gain of 6.2 million in the previous week, as expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Eni (E) expects investors eyeing a minority stake in its renewables and retail arm Plenitude to value the business at over 10 billion euro ($11 billion) including debt, Reuters reported. Eni shares rose 5.5%.