Sector Update: Energy Stocks Rise Wednesday

04:06 PM EDT, 08/26/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Energy stocks rose Wednesday with the NYSE Energy Sector Index gaining 0.2% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) climbing 0.6%. The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index fell 0.4%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index advanced 0.5%. In geopolitical news, the Iranian military said it reached a revenue-sharing deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reported. West Texas Intermediate crude oil shed 0.5% to $81.96 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent fell 1.2% to $87.48 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures gained 3.4% to $2.86 per 1 million BTU. In sector news, US crude oil stocks, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, fell by 3.6 million barrels in the week ended Friday following a drop of 900,000 in the previous week. Excluding inventories in the SPR, commercial crude oil stocks increased by 100,000 after a gain of 4.4 million in the previous week, a smaller increase than the 1.6 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. In corporate news, Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG) shares rose 1% after the company's PSE&G unit launched its GridSmart Battery Program, which is intended to help offset the costs of customers installing a home battery system. Par Pacific (PARR) shares rose 2.6%, a day after the company said its 46%-owned Laramie Energy agreed to sell almost all of its oil and gas assets for $485 million. Enbridge (ENB) shares rose 1.2% after the company agreed to buy Salt Creek Midstream's crude oil gathering business for $600 million.