The average price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil increased for the second month in a row in August and was trending even higher last week.

Voluntary oil production curtailment on the part of OPEC+ and rising global demand have helped push WTI and other benchmarks higher since June.

At US$81 per barrel in August, the WTI benchmark was $11 (16%) higher than two months earlier when it averaged $70.

As of Friday, WTI was averaging $87 per barrel in September.

Over the first eight months of the year, the WTI benchmark has averaged $76 compared to $100 over the same period in 2022.

It has been a similar story for the Western Canada Select (WCS) benchmark, which has gone from averaging just under US$59 per barrel in June to almost $65 in August for an increase of 10%.

Answer to the previous trivia question: At 249,000 versus 150,000, more Albertans worked in construction than in manufacturing as of August 2023.

Today’s trivia question: Why is West Texas Intermediate grade oil referred to as “sweet?”