Play Foreign Energy for the Long Term

For example, anyone bullish on Norway's fundamental and fiscal health could use the iShares MSCI Norway Capped Investable Market Index Fund(ENOR) , which has a 51% weight to energy. Obviously a 10% portfolio weight in ENOR would provide 5.1%, out of the targeted 11%, for the energy sector.

A similar 10% weighting in the Index IQ Canada Small Cap ETF(CNDA) would account for an additional 2.7% weight for energy. Again, in order to buy CNDA one must be favorably disposed to the country's prospects and the role that oil exports will play in those prospects.

From there the exposure could be rounded out with the Global X China Energy ETF(CHIE) . China does face an economic slowdown along with the consequences for building too much housing supply in relation to what the demand is likely to be but energy consumption should keep increasing slowly and so buying this fund requires believing in that part of the China story.

The above combination is of course just an example but the bigger point is the extent to which individual investors can isolate very specific market segments to create potentially sophisticated portfolios without necessarily taking on individual stock risk.

At the time of publication, the author held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.