Energy stocks were slightly higher Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Energy Sector Index increasing 0.1% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) up 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index was climbing 1.8%, and the Dow Jones US Utilities Index was shedding 0.3%.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 0.8% to $90.93 a barrel, and the global benchmark Brent crude contract advanced 1.2% to $95.78 a barrel. Henry Hub natural gas futures added 2.1% to $2.96 per 1 million BTU.

In corporate news, Eni (E) wants to boost production from its operations in Venezuela to over 1 million barrels per day, including volume from state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, Bloomberg reported. Eni shares were down 0.2%.