On Thursday, energy sector equities displayed a promising uptick in premarket trading. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLE (NYSE:XLE)) saw a rise of nearly 1%, and concurrently, the United States Oil Fund (NYSEARCA:NYSE:USO) and the United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEARCA:UNG) also experienced a surge, appreciating by 1.1% and 1% respectively.
Crude oil futures also registered substantial gains. The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased by 1.6%, reaching $89.96 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Internationally, the global benchmark North Sea (NYSE:SE) crude advanced by 1.5% to $93.25 per barrel. Simultaneously, natural gas futures recorded a significant jump of 3.8%, settling at $2.78 per 1 million BTU.
In corporate news, Vital Energy (NASDAQ:VTLE) reported a drop of over 5%. This decline followed the company's announcement that it had signed three agreements to acquire assets in the Permian Basin for a sum of $1.17 billion, payable in cash and stock. The acquisition will increase Vital Energy's holdings by an additional 53,000 net acres and will add proven reserves of 248 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Transocean (NYSE:NYSE:RIG), conversely, saw its stock rise by more than 2%. The increase was triggered by the company's disclosure that it had secured a three-year drilling contract valued at $486 million for its new ultra-deepwater drillship, Deepwater Aquila. The contract, awarded by a national oil company for offshore work in Brazil, is set to commence in Q3 of 2024.
In another development, BP (LON:BP) (NYSE:NYSE:BP) has reportedly begun its search for a new chief executive following Bernard Looney's departure from the position on Tuesday. This news seemed to positively impact BP's stock, which observed an upward movement of over 1% in Thursday's premarket activity.
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