09:04 AM EDT, 07/16/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were edging higher pre-bell Wednesday as the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) was advancing by 0.1% recently.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was 1.1% lower and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was up 1.7%.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 0.9% lower at $65.891 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil lost 0.8% to $68.19 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 1.1% higher at $3.56 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Eni (E) has agreed to buy 2 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas from Venture Global's ( VG ) CP2 LNG project for 20 years, the companies said. Shares of Venture Global ( VG ) were up 3% premarket.