03:41 PM EDT, 10/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index gaining 1.1% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) adding 1.4%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index climbed 3%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index climbed 0.4%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 2.9% to $58.91 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent advanced 2.7% to $62.97 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures shed 0.4% to $3.46 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 100,000 barrels in the week ended Friday following an increase of 4.3 million in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks declined by 1 million after a gain of 3.5 million in the previous week, compared with an increase of 2.2 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Vistra ( VST ) completed the acquisition of seven natural gas-fueled power plants totaling 2,600 megawatts from Lotus Infrastructure Partners, following regulatory clearance. Vistra ( VST ) shares rose 0.7%.