01:54 PM EDT, 08/27/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index up 1.1% and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) rising 1.2%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector index was climbing 2.2%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities index was up 0.1%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising 1.1% to $63.94 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract was advancing 0.8% to $67.22 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were 3.7% higher at $3.89 per 1 million BTU.

US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 22 following a decrease of 5.8 million barrels in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks fell by 2.4 million barrels after a 6-million-barrel decline in the previous week, a larger drop than the 2-million-barrel decrease expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, EQT (EQT) is in talks to secure liquefied natural gas supply from NextDecade's ( NEXT ) Rio Grande export terminal, which is currently under construction in Brownsville, Texas, Bloomberg reported. NextDecade ( NEXT ) shares jumped 5%, and EQT stock was falling 2%.

Sempra ( SRE ) shares added 0.6% after the company said Wednesday its Sempra Infrastructure unit signed a 20-year deal with EQT to supply 2 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas offtake from the Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 development project in Jefferson County, Texas.

MPLX ( MPLX ) said Wednesday that it signed a definitive deal to sell its Rockies gathering and processing assets to a Harvest Midstream subsidiary for $1 billion in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. MPLX ( MPLX ) shares were down 0.4%.