01:53 PM EDT, 03/27/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher Friday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 1.7% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 1.8%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 1.6%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index rose 1.3%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil was rising 4.6% to $98.81 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract was advancing 3.4% to $111.70 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures were 1.7% higher at $3.05 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Entergy ( ETR ) shares jumped past 8% after its unit Entergy Louisiana said Friday it has agreed to an expanded power supply contract with Meta Platforms (META) to support the technology company's Northeast Louisiana computing facility.

Chevron ( CVX ) and Woodside Energy's ( WDS ) liquefied natural gas production in Western Australia has been impacted after outages caused by a cyclone in the region, the companies said in separate emailed statements to MT Newswires Friday. Chevron ( CVX ) shares were up 1.9%, and Woodside rose 3.3%.

Chevron ( CVX ) and Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) interests in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium are not being targeted by Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, according to multiple reports. Peskov's comments came after some Russian commentators had suggested restricting Kazakh oil exports through the pipeline in response to US sanctions, according to the reports. Exxon shares added 2.9%.

Venture Global ( VG ) shares rose 1.4% after the company said it reached a settlement agreement with Edison resolving pending arbitration related to the Calcasieu Pass liquefied natural gas export project.