09:12 AM EDT, 05/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were leaning lower premarket Thursday, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLE ) recently down 0.1%.

The United States Oil Fund ( USO ) was 0.6% higher and the United States Natural Gas Fund ( UNG ) was up 2.5%.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.8% at $79.29 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark Brent gained 0.6% to $83.28 per barrel, and natural-gas futures were up 1.7% at $2.46 per 1 million BTU.

SilverBow Resources ( SBOW ) advanced by almost 10% amid a deal for Crescent Energy ( CRGY ) to buy the company for $2.10 billion.

Seadrill ( SDRL ) was up more than 2% after it reported a Q1 operating revenue of $367 million, up from $266 million a year earlier.

Diamond Offshore Drilling ( DO ) advanced more than 1% after saying it has received a two-year contract extension with Occidental Petroleum's ( OXY ) Anadarko Petroleum unit for the Ocean BlackHawk drillship for work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, representing a contract backlog of another $350 million, excluding any managed pressure drilling services.