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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery lost $2.88 to $89.31, while Brent for September lost $3.91 to $96.78 (all figures in this para U.S.). Despite today's drop, both benchmarks notched a sizable weekly gain. Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $17.40 to WTI, up from a discount of $23.10. Natural gas for August lost four cents to $2.87. The TSX energy index lost 3.58 points to close at 430.43.

Shrugging off today's oil price drop, the Canadian Montney- and U.S. Permian-focused Ovintiv Inc. (OVV) added $2.56 to $89.01 on 1.9 million shares, crossing $90 in intraday trading to set a new eight-year high. Investors liked its second quarter financials, which came with higher full-year production guidance, a new debt milestone and a plan to boost share buybacks. An external index update was the passive cherry on top.

The financials showed second quarter production of 614,600 barrels of oil equivalent a day. This was within Ovintiv's second quarter guidance of 610,000 to 635,000 barrels a day, though at the low end, reflecting facility downtime in the Montney and a shift toward greater liquids production in the Permian (sacrificing some lower-margin gas production along the way). Despite falling short of the midpoint of its production guidance, Ovintiv's cash flow of $4.46 (U.S.) a share was well above analysts' predictions of $4.21 (U.S.) a share. Some of the extra cash was used to knock out more debt. Net debt was $2.99-billion (U.S.) as of June, down sharply from $5.16-billion (U.S.) a year earlier (with a $2.8-billion (U.S.) asset sale in April providing a healthy shove over the sub-$3-billion (U.S.) threshold).

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