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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery lost 65 cents to $78.95, while Brent for September lost 72 cents to $84.23 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $13.30 to WTI, up from a discount of $14.70. Natural gas for August lost six cents to $2.85. The TSX energy index added a fraction of a point to close at 401.49.

Oil prices edged lower in choppy trading. In a sign of the times, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) weighed in on what is normally an easy-to-ignore bit of oil market plumbing: tank bottoms. An explainer on the EIA's website today noted that crude storage tanks have a safe operational minimum that is above their physical bottom -- a distinction that is starting to matter more and more as inventories get low and prices get more volatile. "In extreme cases, an inventory facility may be unable to provide a product even though it is not technically empty, because it is effectively at the bottom of its working storage capacity," noted the EIA. The timing of the explainer is unlikely to be a coincidence, with the EIA seemingly looking to get ahead of questions about why nominal capacity is not the same as available barrels.

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