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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery added five cents to $68.38 on the New York Merc, while Brent for September added four cents to $70.19 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $12.10 to WTI, up from a discount of $12.60. Natural gas for August lost 12 cents to $3.21. The TSX energy index lost a fraction of a point to close at 270.52.

Oil prices held their ground as traders weighed tariff threats, inflation forecasts and supply data. In its latest weekly data release, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories jumped by 7.1 million barrels last week. This was markedly different from analysts' predictions of a decrease of 2.1 million barrels.

The steep increase included a relatively large 1.8 million barrels a day in "adjustments." Formerly called "unaccounted-for crude oil," this adjustment figure is used as a weekly balancing item by the EIA to reconcile differences in reported supply and consumption, discrepancies that the EIA blames on underreported production and overrreported blending (which is when non-crude liquids are blended with crude to meet product specifications. If most or all of the end product is accounted for as crude, this inflates the true crude figure). Such adjustments used to be negligible, but have been climbing in recent years. This prompted the EIA to tweak its collection methods in 2023 to try to wrestle the adjustments back down. As the latest figures bear out, it is a work in progress.

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