Energy stocks were rising premarket Tuesday, with The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) up 0.7%.

The United States Oil Fund (USO) was up 1.4% and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 2.4% higher.

Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 1.5% at $73.41 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil gained 1.6% to reach $77.05 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 2.5% higher at $3.53 per 1 million British Thermal Units.

Elliott Investment Management disclosed an investment of over $2.50 billion in Phillips 66 (PSX) and proposed the "Streamline66" plan to simplify the company's portfolio, review its operations, and elect new independent directors. Phillips 66 shares were nearly 5% higher pre-bell.

Hess Midstream (HESM) stock was more than 2% lower after the company said overnight it priced an upsized underwritten secondary offering of 11 million Class A shares at $39.45 apiece for gross proceeds of about $434 million.

BP (BP) shares were down 0.3% after the company posted lower Q4 underlying replacement cost profit and revenue.