** Shares of U.S. energy companies up marginally premarket, as Brent crude prices rise

** Brent Crude futures LCOc1 rise 8.2% to $116.20/barrel after hitting their session high of $116.66 a barrel O/R

** U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rises 0.9% to $97.23 a barrel, widening its discount to Brent to the largest in 11 years, pressured by releases from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and higher freight costs

** Crude prices jumped after Iran attacked energy facilities across the Middle East following Israel's strike on its South Pars gas field

** Energy majors Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N up 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively

** Oil and gas producers Occidental Petroleum OXY.N, APA Corp APA.O, Devon Energy DVN.N and EOG Resources EOG.N up between 0.5% and 0.9%

(Reporting by Sumit Saha in Bengaluru)

((Sumit.Saha@thomsonreuters.com;))