Energy stocks gained late Wednesday afternoon with the NYSE Energy Sector Index rising 1% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) adding 1.7%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was little changed, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index shed 0.3%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 2.2% to $95.80 a barrel, and global benchmark Brent rose 1.8% to $97.74 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures increased 2.2% to $3.24 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, JinkoSolar (JKS) will enter the data-center business, supplying power directly from its plants to meet growing AI-driven demand, Nikkei Asia reported. JinkoSolar shares fell 0.8%.