Ah Halloween, that favourite time of year where kids run around in costume yelling at their neighbours, demanding candy, counting their loot, hoarding their bounty and ultimately falling twitching into bed in a massive overly stimulated sugar high as their teeth disintegrate in their sleep.

 
It’s also the vastly amusing time of year when it is not unusual to pull up at a stop light and have Batman sitting in the car next to you doing something completely mundane like texting or eating a cheeseburger.

By the way, I have my costume picked, do you?

At any rate, in keeping with the Halloween theme and my unblemished record of trying to jam “holiday” themed metaphors into my missives, I figured it might be interesting to go around the “neighbourhood” so to speak and see who is giving away what – whether it’s tricks, treats or something else entirely.

• The Crazy OPEC House – You know this house. It’s the crazy house with lots of junk on the lawn, fancy cars coming and going at all hours and you’re never sure if anyone is actually in charge. This year, it appears there is finally someone home and they are rationing treats, which is way better than last year, when they had a big barrel of candy out front and created a free for all. At any rate, after stopping there, it’s hard to tell if we’ve received a trick, a treat or an apple with a razor blade in it. I’m going to be cautiously optimistic about the treat because it cost at least $50, but this treat has an expiry date of November 28, and it’ll go bad pretty quickly.

• The Russian House – Let’s face it, anything from this place is bound to be a trick. Whether it’s talking about handing out less candy but then giving you a handful, stealing people’s mail or pirating your wifi, this is the house that everyone avoids because it’s weird, creepy and the bald guy who lives there scares all the little kids.

• Drumpf Tower – This is the place you go to and you get “Yuge” chocolate bars, regular-sized bags of chips and maybe a can of pop except that on closer inspection, you realize that you have low quality Made in China snacks that not even the dollar store stocks. Combine that with the crazy old man who yells at you from inside and tells off-colour jokes, it’s easy to see why this place gets less popular as the night wears on.

• Clinton Manor – Oy, well yeah you can get treats here, but it’s that weird and awkward house where the earnest old lady lives (who may or may not have a husband, but for sure has a cat) who tries to make too much awkward conversation and stands insistently in the doorway waiting for you to engage with her so she can give you a precisely allocated single candy (like nougat or caramel) and maybe a few pennies or a toothbrush. Plus, through the open door, the house smells vaguely of some kind of slow cooking food (if you’ve ever had a paper route and had to collect money, you know what I mean). It’s all pretty predictable and you don’t mind stopping by on an annual basis as long as her crazy husband is out.

• Trudeau House – we all know this place. It’s the one that tries too hard. Too many decorations, lights, skeletons, the whole nine yards. Every time the bell rings, the owner in full costume jumps out from behind a bush and more likely than not proceeds to take a selfie and compliment you effusively about how great you look and how awesome Halloween is before retreating back to his hiding spot to lie in wait for the next unsuspecting kid who comes along. It all feels a bit superficial and by the time you get your handful of candy corns and an IOU for a bucket of chocolate bars, you realize you were fine skipping this house.

• Obama House – This house provides a treat, but it also comes with a lecture about the dangers of consuming too much candy and how plastic wrappers are bad for the environment. On top of that, the owner is distracted and everything in the house is in boxes at which point you realize that the house has been sold and they are clearing everything out. It’s only when you get home that you realize what you thought was a great treat is actually a COP21 Snowglobe autographed by the IPCC team and a sleeve of golf balls with the presidential seal.

• Quebec House – As the door flies open you are asked to answer a trick hypothetical question: Given the choice on where to get some candy, would you go to the house in the bad neighbourhood with the police tape up and most of the candy is covered with pocket lint or would you get the candy from the well-dressed, earnest neighbour four houses over with an actual good housekeeping sign of approval on the house. When you say the latter, the owner slams the door in your face and shuts off the lights. As you leave, you realize that they have somehow managed to take half your candy while you were standing there and replaced it with a paper plane that has the word “Bombardier” written on it.

• Ontario House – it appears there is no one home at this house as all the lights are out.

• Brad Wall House – this is another of the try-too-hard houses. It’s the smallest house in the neighbourhood, but it’s close to home so you need to stop there. These are the neighbours who mow your lawn (often unasked) when you are away and feed your fish. Lots of good, old fashioned treats here.

• The banker’s house – usually good for some pretty awesome candy and a couple of bucks, this year all they’re handing out are Canadian pennies, which aren’t even in circulation anymore.

• The hipster house – this is the house that the hipster environmental couple rents. They have two vehicles, a Subaru wagon with a Bernie Sanders sticker on it and a Chevy Volt. There’s a Greenpeace sign in the window. These two are rarely home since, as they told you once, they are often flying off to important conferences in exotic locations around the world to discuss how important it is to stifle the fossil fuel industry anywhere that rule of law allows them to protest without being jailed. They are handing out organic hemp and stevia candies that you furtively toss into their xeriscaped garden.

• BC House – This is the most expensive house on the block and the neighbour on the other side. Not the biggest house, the most expensive. It’s actually quite small, but for some reason the current owner decided to pay three times market to buy it. The plan is to tear it down. They are perfectly happy to give you some candy, but insist on getting a cut of your entire evening’s haul, which is only fair, because you insist on running a hose across their lawn.

• Alberta House – this used to be your house, but now it appears it’s occupied by squatters, who have recently painted it orange. These new people on the block are trying desperately to impress everyone to gain acceptance, especially the hipsters, who they have attributed too much neighbourhood influence to. The very friendly lady who opens the door dressed as a union shop steward heaps handfuls of candy into your bag. But then strangely insists that you pay for it.

Well there you have it, not a bad haul all things considered. Here’s my costume. Suffice it say, the cats were scared, the kids were amused and I felt an undeniable urge to build a beautiful wall.

Prices as at October 28, 2016 (October 21, 2016)

• The price of oil ended the week down slightly on concerns OPEC may be challenged to implement its cuts.
  • Storage posted a surprise decrease
  • Production was up marginally
  • The rig count was up
• Natural gas was down during the week as the market continues to trade on weather projections before rallying at the ned of the week on storage

• WTI Crude: $48.70 ($50.85)
• Nymex Gas: $3.105 ($2.993)
• US/Canadian Dollar: $0.74705 ($ 0.74995)

Highlights

• As at October 21, 2016, US crude oil supplies were at 468.2 million barrels, a decrease of 0.5 million barrels from the previous week and 20.2 million barrels ahead of last year.
  • The number of days oil supply in storage was 30.0, behind last year’s 30.1.
  • Production was up for the week at 8.504 million barrels per day. Production last year at the same time was 9.112 million barrels per day. The change in production this week came from a slight increase in Alaska deliveries and lower 48 production.
  • Imports rose slightly to 7.016 million barrels a day, compared to 7.032 million barrels per day last year.
  • Refinery inputs were up during the week at 15.552 million barrels a day
• As at October 21, 2016, US natural gas in storage was 3,909 billion cubic feet (Bcf), which is 5% above the 5-year average and about 1% higher than last year’s level, following an implied net injection of 73 Bcf during the report week.
  • Overall U.S. natural gas consumption was up 5% during the week as lower power demand was offset by slightly higher industrial and a surge in residential demand.
  • Production for the week was up 2% and imports from Canada rose by 24% as the Alliance pipeline came back online
  • The gas story in the United States is increasingly bullish as additions to storage have slowed relative to prior years as the heating season approaches
• As of October 24, the Canadian rig count was at 141 (21% utilization), 106 Alberta (23%), 15 BC (20%), 18 Saskatchewan (16%), 2 Manitoba (13%)). Utilization for the same period last year was about 25%.
• US Onshore Oil rig count at October 28 was at 441, down 2 from the week prior.
  • Rig count at January 1, 2015 was 1,482
• Natural gas rigs drilling in the United States was up 6 at 114.
  • Rig count at January 1, 2015 was 328
• US split of Oil vs Gas rigs is 80%/20%, in Canada the split is 55%/45%
• Offshore rig count was down 1 at 22
  • Offshore rig count at January 1, 2015 was 55

Drillbits

• Selected earnings reports for Q3 – it’s a mixed bag!
  • Imperial Oil reported Net Income of $1.003 billion up form $479 million in the same period last year, with much of the gain resulting from the sale of its service station business
  • Cenovus reported an operating loss of $236 million for the quarter vs a $28 million loss in same period last year .
  • Husky reported cash flow form operations of $484 vs $488 in the same period last year. On a net icome basis the company outperformed as the sale of some midstream assets added signifgicantly to the bottom line
  • Suncor reported cash flow from operations of $2.025 billion versus $1.882 billion in the same period last year
  • Chevron reported net income of $1.283 billion for the quarter vs $2,037 in the same period last year
  • Exxon reported net income of $2.650 billion for the quarter vs $4.240 in the same period last year.
  • Phllips 66 reported net income of $511 million for the quarter vs $1.578 billion in the same period last year
• More protests about the Dakota Access Pipeline. This time they got violent and many hundred of protestors were arrested. Vandalism continued and a tire fire was started to, umm, prove that oil pollutes by making pollution? Look, I get protest and everyone has the right to be heard, but when someting is approved, it is time to move on. This feels more like a shakedown than anything else.
• The number of OPEC members looking for special dispensation in the output program continues to grow with Iraq now joinging in.
• Key Energy Services filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, as $1 billion in debt (!!!!) proved too much for the struggling firm
• Drumpf Watch – if this past week is anything to go by, Drumpf is channelling his internal Roberto Duran with his bizarre self-promotion press conferences. There’s still 11 days to go dude, shouldn’t you at least try? Your bat-sh** crazy minions sure are. No Mas is not what a Bad Hombre like you should be saying. In other news, it turns out that Drumpf has in fact not been donating as much to his campaign as he claims and not one of his kids or surrogates has. There is a rumour of a $100 million donation from Drumpf himself to shore up the last few weeks, but somehow there is doubt it will materialize – sort of like, why continue to pay for advertising future episodes of the Celebrity Apprentice, when the show has been cancelled.