The Million Dollar Way (The Bakken Oil Blog)

Friday, May 15, 2026

Locator: 50821CHINA.

Personal portfolio:

I expected a loss of as much as 2% when I saw the price of oil and the market indices at the open;
in fact, my portfolio closed the day down 0.35% which I consider a huge win

Trump's trip to China:

at best I thought Trump might break even;
I assumed Trump was going to come away worse than he did
nightly news reporting: networks seemed to have trouble coming up with negative stories
mostly a break-even trip;
I expected much, much worse.
in the big scheme of things: a nothing-burger.

Taiwan:

if done like Hong Kong, Trump seems to exude a willingness to support Number Eleven
quick: who's the elected leader of Taiwan?

Locator: 50820BRK.

BRK-B this past year: there seems to be a pattern --

When I listened to Greg Abel's comments at the annual meeting just a week or so ago, I had the same thoughts.

Locator: 50819MMF.

TAG: MMFs MMF

My favorite chart.

The US equity markets have been on fire the past couple of weeks.

Locator: 50818OIL.

Each day the strait is closed, the more irrelevant the strait becomes.

The big stories:

The UAE is accelerating construction of a new West-East oil pipeline to Fujairah, scheduled to be operational by 2027, aimed at doubling its crude export capacity to roughly 4 million barrels per day (bpd). This strategic project bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to secure oil exports amid rising regional tensions

As of April 2026, Saudi Arabia has restored the East-West pipeline (Petroline) to its full capacity of approximately 7 million barrels per day (bopd) following attacks. The 1,200 km pipeline serves as a critical alternative route, allowing the kingdom to transport oil to the Red Sea port of Yanbu and bypass the restricted Strait of Hormuz