09:02 AM EDT, 06/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were advancing premarket Thursday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) 0.2% higher recently.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was down 0.3% and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 0.7% lower.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.1% at $64.97 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil was unchanged at $67.68 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 1.2% lower at $3.37 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Shell (SHEL) shares were up more than 2% after the company said it is not actively considering a takeover of BP (BP), putting an end to recent speculation about a possible deal between the two oil majors.