The Philadelphia Oil-Service Sector index was posting a 2.2% advance and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was rising 0.4%.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $4.40 higher at $114.73 per barrel, while Brent crude was advancing $3.25 to $117.28 per barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures fell $0.06 to $8.91 per 1 million BTU.
In company news, FirstEnergy (FE) was edging higher shortly before Thursday's closing bell, rising 0.6%, after the electric utility disclosed plans to repurchase up to $800 million of its 7.375% series C notes due 2031 and its 4.85% series C notes maturing in 2047.
TechnipFMC (FTI) gained 4.7% after the energy-services company late Wednesday said it received a "significant" engineering, procurement, construction, and installation contract valued between $75 million to $250 million from Norwegian energy major Equinor (EQNR) for subsea tiebacks for the Halten East development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Equnior shares were climbing 1.2% in late trade.
EnLink Midstream (ENLC) rose 1.7% after the energy infrastructure company announced its purchase of natural gas gathering and processing assets in northern Texas from Crestwood Equity Partners (CEQP) for $275 million, adding around 500 miles of pipeline and three processing facilities with a combined capacity of 425 million cubic feet per day. Crestwood Equity shares were down 2.2% this afternoon.
Golar LNG (GLNG) declined 2.1% after Thursday reporting a 2.8% year-over-year increase in Q1 revenue, rising to $79.7 million but still lagging the Capital IQ consensus expecting the liquified natural gas producer to generate $114.2 million in revenue during the three months ended Dec. 31.