Energy stocks were advancing pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) 0.3% higher.
The United States Oil Fund (USO) was up 1.3% and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 0.5% lower.
Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was 1.8% higher at $91.00 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil rose 0.8% to $103.40 per barrel, and natural gas futures were down 0.2% at $3.00 per 1 million British Thermal Units.
Shell (SHEL), TotalEnergies (TTE), ExxonMobil (XOM) and China National Petroleum face a $5.2 billion fine for alleged environmental abuses, after renewed enforcement proceedings started Tuesday by Kazakhstan authorities, the news service Interfax reported, citing the Justice Ministry's online database. Shell shares were 0.6% lower and TotalEnergies was down more than 1%, while ExxonMobil was 0.4% higher premarket.