09:19 AM EST, 12/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks advanced premarket Thursday with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLE ) almost 1% higher recently.

The United States Oil Fund ( USO ) was up 1.6% and the United States Natural Gas Fund ( UNG ) was 2.3% higher.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 0.7% higher at $71.07 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil gained 0.4% to $73.77 per barrel, and natural gas futures were up 3.8% at $3.50 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Woodside Energy Group ( WDS ) shares rose past 2% after the company said it has agreed to an asset swap with Chevron ( CVX ) for interests in certain liquefied natural gas assets as part of its effort to simplify its portfolio.

AleAnna (ANNA) said it signed an exclusive, multi-year gas supply agreement with Shell (SHEL) Energy Europe for its share of the natural gas production from the Longanesi field in Italy. Shell shares were up over 1% premarket.