The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+46 -- July 16, 2018

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. I am posting the SeekingAlpha article on Enbridge due to the relationship between Enbridge and the Bakken.

Enbridge: from SeekingAlpha; Fitzsimmons is a regular and knowledgeable contributor to SeekingAlpha, a contributor I enjoy following -- 

• Enbridge already announced C$7.5 billion in asset sales this year, more than twice managements original C$3 billion bull-year target
• the market appears to have ignored the asset sales, but has responded very well to positive news on the Line 3 Replacement Project
• further share price appreciation will likely be tied to progress on the earnings front -- and the Q2 report is due out on August 3, 2018
• also, discussion of PSX (Phillips 66); DCP; Line 3
• from the linked article (but there is so much more at the linked article)

Putin-Trump summit: I think this was a much more important "summit" than folks seem to think. My hunch: the mainstream media is completely missing the importance of this "summit." Trump also took advantage of being "in the area." He attended the NATO conference in Brussels, which put him within "same time zones" and just hours from Scotland -- he saw the Queen; the Prime Minister; and, his golf course -- and hours from Helsinki which gave him a chance to see Vladimir Putin. Great, great use of time. 

Putin-Trump summit: for folks paying attention, the anti-Trumpers, never-Trumpers, and the mainstream media were already reporting negative stories on Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court even before Trump had named a nominee. And we're being asked to believe the reporting coming out of the Trump-Putin summit? Those stories were written as soon as the "summit" was announced, months ago.

For Jane Nielson and Art Berman. From Reuters --

The world's biggest oil traders are counting hefty losses after a surprise doubling in the price discount of U.S. light crude to benchmark Brent in just a month, as surging U.S production upends the market.

For those that understand the alphabet soup, the spread is: WTCLc1-LCOc1.

Trading desks of oil major BP and merchants Vitol, Gunvor, and Trafigura have recorded losses in the tens of millions of dollars each as a result of the "whipsaw" move when the spread reached more than $11.50 a barrel in June.

Duck and hide: this is being reported in multiple British tabloids, but we will link the oilprice.com story.  There are actually two stories here. First, short term, Ireland needs to get its crude oil reserves out of the UK before Brexit; and second, long term, Ireland could become the first country in the world to quit fossil fuel investment altogether, after the Fossil Fuel Divestment bill was passed by the country's lower house last week.

We also learn in the article that EU countries must keep emergency stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products equal to at least 90 days of net imorts or 61 days of consumption, whichever is higher.

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Woodworking Course

The granddaughters are kept busy with various "schools" throughout the summer -- computer coding, sailing, athletics, cooking, baking, etc.

Olivia was enrolled in a week-long, half-day only wood working course. No power tools were allowed due to liability issues so all sawing, sanding, and nailing was done "by hand."

Olivia made a "miniature" Adirondack chair for Sophia. Here she is putting on the finishing touches: