03:52 PM EDT, 06/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks were higher late Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 1.5% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 1.3%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 2%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was up 2%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.7% to $93.74 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 1.1% to $96.03 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures decreased 0.6% to $3.16 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, BP (BP) held advanced talks to sell its UK North Sea assets to Ithaca Energy in a nearly 2 billion British pounds ($2.7 billion) deal, though negotiations failed in recent weeks, with the oil major still exploring a sale to other potential buyers, the Financial Times reported. BP shares were up 1%.

Bloom Energy ( BE ) doesn't currently see a need to raise capital through share sales despite surging demand for its fuel-cell technology from AI data centers, Bloomberg reported, citing CEO K. R. Sridhar. The company, which recently signed a deal with Oracle (ORCL) to supply up to 2.8 gigawatts of power for data centers, can recover the cost of building new manufacturing capacity within six months via sales, Sridhar told the news outlet. Bloom Energy ( BE ) shares jumped past 9%.

Hallador Energy ( HNRG ) said late Monday it has agreed to acquire about 460 megawatts of Siemens gas turbines, generators and related equipment from Energy World for $350 million to back development of Hallador's Merom natural gas-fired combustion turbine project. Hallador shares were down 0.1%.