This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery added 52 cents to $82.62 on the New York Merc, while Brent for September added 32 cents to $85.40 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $14.30 to WTI, up from a discount of $14.50. Natural gas for August lost six cents to $2.27. The TSX energy index added 3.74 points to close at 286.31.

Oil prices edged higher despite another lacklustre forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its closely watched monthly report, the IEA stuck to its view that global oil demand will not even rise by one million barrels a day this year. It predicted a rise of 970,000 barrels a day, barely changed from last month's forecast of 960,000. By stark contrast, yesterday's monthly report from OPEC reiterated a much more bullish forecast of 2.25 million barrels a day, more than double the IEA's prediction.

The big newsmaker of the day, if not a big market mover, was Adam Waterous's thinly traded Strathcona Resources Ltd. (SCR), up $1.49 to $31.86 on 83,600 shares. It began grabbing headlines late yesterday after trumpeting a $2-billion "strategic partnership" to build carbon capture infrastructure at its oil sands facilities in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Up to $1-billion of the financing will come from Canada Growth Fund, the clean-tech funding arm of the federal government. Together they plan to capture and store up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. (For context, Strathcona's current estimated emissions are three million tonnes annually, generated by seven major oil sands projects producing a total of 185,000 barrels a day.)

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS