oil deficitThe Globe and Mail reports in its Friday, Aug. 9, edition that oil prices have fallen in recent weeks as traders shift their focus from the current decrease in global inventories to the potential impact of a slowdown in major economies in the future. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that at the end of June, commercial stocks of crude and refined products in the advanced economies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) totalled 2,761 million barrels. Stocks were 120 million barrels below the 10-year seasonal average and the deficit had widened from 74 million at the end of March. The deficit was the widest for almost two years since September, 2022, according to data from the Short-Term Energy Outlook prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)