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Posted January 9, 2026 at 9:45 am
WTI and Brent inched higher while gas sank, as Chevron moved more Venezuelan crude and TotalEnergies, Eni, and QatarEnergy secured a Lebanon offshore permit.
What’s going on here?
Energy stocks edged higher Friday even as major oil and gas funds slipped, with crude prices up and natural gas falling sharply.
What does this mean?
The divergence is a reminder that “energy” isn’t a single trade. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund rose about 0.4% premarket, while commodity trackers dipped – the United States Oil Fund fell 0.3% and the United States Natural Gas Fund dropped 2%. That lines up with the underlying moves: front-month WTI crude climbed 0.9% to $58.27 a barrel and Brent gained 0.8% to $62.49, but US natural gas futures slid 2.7% to $3.32 per MMBtu. Stock-specific headlines mattered, too: Chevron loaded 1.68 million barrels of Venezuelan crude in the first week of January, the most for that week since May, according to Bloomberg, and its shares were up nearly 1% premarket. Elsewhere, TotalEnergies, Eni, and QatarEnergy signed into an offshore exploration permit in Lebanon, a longer-dated growth option, even as their shares were only modestly mixed.
Why should I care?
For markets: Energy is a sector and two different commodities.
Oil and gas can move in opposite directions, and the investments tied to them can diverge just as fast. Integrated majors also have refining and trading businesses, so their earnings – and share prices – don’t always mirror the day’s crude tick. That’s why a company catalyst like Chevron’s Venezuela loading can matter more than a sub-1% move in oil.
Zooming out: Access and drilling rights still drive long term value.
Energy companies are often priced on what they can produce tomorrow, not just what they sell today. Getting physical access to supply, like Venezuela cargoes, can be as important as the headline benchmark. And new permits, like the Lebanon deal, show majors still paying for future reserves even with WTI around $58 and Brent near $62.
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Originally Posted January 9, 2026 – Energy Stocks Rise Even As Oil And Gas Funds Slip
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