Despite the soft U.S. demand, oil prices remain steady amidst the escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

• Bulls were disappointed by the surprise build in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories, as they had hoped for indications of increased demand.
• But tensions between Israel and Iran-backed militia Hezbollah are providing support to prices.

On Thursday, the price of crude oil remained steady despite concerns about a potential conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which outweighed weaker demand for U.S. gasoline.

On Wednesday, the U.S. reported unexpected increases in crude oil and gasoline inventories for the week ending June 21, which disappointed bulls who had hoped that rising demand would revive the recent crude price surge.

U.S. gasoline demand fell below 9 million barrels per day for the first time in three weeks due to coastal flooding caused by tropical storm Alberto, according to JPMorgan.

Prateek Kedia, vice president of global commodities research at JPMorgan, stated in a research note on Wednesday that the hurricane had a significant impact on US gasoline consumption.

Here are today's energy prices:

• The August contract price for oil is $81.40 per barrel, which represents a 50 cent increase, or 0.62%. To date, the US oil market has experienced a 13.6% gain.
• The global benchmark for August contract is up 61 cents or 0.72%, while year to date it is ahead by 11.5%.
• The price of gasoline in July is $2.55 per gallon, which represents a 0.003% increase. To date in the year, gasoline has experienced a 21.2% increase.
• The August contract price for gas is $2.71 per thousand cubic feet, representing a 1.24% increase. To date, gas has outperformed expectations by 7.8%.

Despite rising tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, oil prices remained stable on Wednesday. However, there are concerns that an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah could lead to a confrontation with Iran, a member of OPEC.

According to John Evans, an analyst at oil broker PVM, if the steady and incremental increase in geopolitical risk in the Middle East had not occurred, oil prices would have had a much more negative day.

On Wednesday, Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, informed CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the market is being weighed down by Middle East tensions. He warned that oil prices could rise again, citing the April rally when they surpassed $90 per barrel due to the Israel-Iran conflict.