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by Stockwatch Business Reporter

West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery added seven cents to $83.27, while Brent for October added seven cents to $88.98 (all figures in this para U.S.). Western Canadian Select traded at a discount of $17.50 to WTI, unchanged. Natural gas for September added three cents to $2.80. The TSX energy index added 1.52 points to close at 426.76.

Oil prices held their ground as talks to end the U.S.-Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz remained at a standstill. In separate monthly reports, OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) reduced their global oil demand forecasts for 2026, citing uncertainty caused by the hostilities. OPEC now sees demand rising by just 580,000 barrels a day this year, down from last month's forecast of 800,000. The more bearish IEA sees demand contracting by 1.6 million barrels a day, compared with a roughly one-million-barrel-a-day drop in July's forecast.

On the supply side, in its latest weekly data release, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. commercial crude inventories swelled by 17.4 million barrels last week, the largest increase since January, 2023. Analysts were forecasting a drop of 1.6 million barrels. Higher imports and lower exports led to the surprise build, though at 424.4 million barrels, inventories are still 2 per cent below the five-year seasonal average. (The above figures exclude the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR, which notched its 20th consecutive weekly drawdown -- shedding another 6.1 million barrels -- and now stands at 298.6 million, its lowest level since 1983. Prior to the start of the U.S.-Iran war, the SPR held over 415 million barrels.)

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