The biggest private investor in Norway sold all their shares in Phillips 66, Marathon Petro, and Enbridge, for a sum total of $34.8m USA dollars in hopes they could ‘make some sort of impact’ amid the Defund DAPL movement. All three companies are partial owners of the pipeline which funnels tar sands out of Alberta, Canada and carries the sludge across critical U.S. rivers.
“We hope that our actions and the actions of other likeminded investors in either divesting or calling for an alternative [pipeline] route will make some sort of an impact,” said Matthew Smith, the head of Storebrand’s sustainability team.
Storebrand, the sustainable investment manager commanding $68 billion in assets announced their divestment Wednesday.
Let’s turn to the charts and see if their selling pressure has had an impact, shall we?
It’s difficult to say exactly when these sell orders hit the tape, but share of Marathon Oil have been struggling to reclaim the $17.50 resistance level. A short vs about $20 actually makes sense here, especially considering the multi-year slide lower that began at the end of 2014. Lots of overhead pressure on $MRO:
Enbridge (ticker: $ENB) saw an abnormal amount of volume coming into it during the first month of 2017, however so far it has held up. You can see, however, that it has failed to regain its upper value. Similar to $MRO, selling out, or betting short against the firm makes sense vs this resistance:
Phillips 66 seems the most resisliant of the pack. Their shares have hardly budged. Worth noting, $PSX also sports the largest market cap. Big ship, small pipeline. The price chart on PSX looks more based out then the rest and offers the least amount of evidence for justifying a sell:
While it’s unlikely the divesting efforts of private investors will succeed in stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline, a project Trump has endorsed that began under Obama, backed by Big Oil, their actions, along with the noise and protest of native people, are likely to make these fossil fuel titans think twice before beginning future projects.
Curbing the actions of these huge petro and coal companies is critical to saving humanity from the grotesque human impact on global warming. Conscious investors are likely to earmark their funds for more progressive companies as the effects of our carelessness become more evident.
The decision to divest millions away from U.S. firms associated with the Dakota Access pipeline by Norway’s largest investor is setting up interesting context for betting against $MRO and $ENB.
Developing…
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
Did you see that administration is no longer requiring that the pipeline use American steel?
That’s fucking bullshit. Wouldn’t be surprised if trump is still making $ off this somehow.
I was totally rooting for those baddass protesters out there living igloos and wading through the slough.