Simon Lack, Portfolio Manager

In March of 2020 when crude oil was collapsing dragging energy stocks, including pipelines, along, I tried to focus on the positive, which was that it had become cheaper to drive places. Except there was nowhere to go because of the lockdown. And even if there had been, I would have had to make roughly three round trips to the moon and back to generate enough savings on gasoline to compensate for my losses on infrastructure.

Crude oil has rallied recently, in a much-delayed reaction to numerous analyst forecasts that have been bullish all year.

The diminishing number of MLPs has started to draw attention from sell-side analysts. Morgan Stanley’s Robert Kad wrote in his Midstream Weekly that consolidation was likely to, “impact active manager mandates that have been dedicated to the sector.” The shrinking pool of MLPs and its impact on MLP-dedicated funds has been a developing problem for years. The changed business model during the height of the shale revolution favored growth over distribution stability. The subsequent downturn saw cuts in payouts that soured the traditional investor base of wealthy individuals (see The Disappearing MLP Buyer from March 2020).

The diminishing number of MLPs has started to draw attention from sell-side analysts. Morgan Stanley’s Robert Kad wrote in his Midstream Weekly that consolidation was likely to, “impact active manager mandates that have been dedicated to the sector.” The shrinking pool of MLPs and its impact on MLP-dedicated funds has been a developing problem for years. The changed business model during the height of the shale revolution favored growth over distribution stability. The subsequent downturn saw cuts in payouts that soured the traditional investor base of wealthy individuals (see The Disappearing MLP Buyer from March 2020).

Climate extremists have a well deserved reputation for a simplistic approach to solving the complex problem of curbing CO2 emissions without impoverishing us all. However, poorly informed objectives doesn’t mean they have a co-ordinated approach. The growth in solar and wind power is setting environmental extremists against one another. 

On Friday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had “inadequately explained its decision not to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement.”

An unintended side-effect of Oneok’s (OKE) proposed acquisition of Magellan Midstream (MMP) has been to give a bid to smaller MLPs. This has come about because of the shrinking pool of names available to populate the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index (AMZIX) and the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) which tracks it.

An unintended side-effect of Oneok’s (OKE) proposed acquisition of Magellan Midstream (MMP) has been to give a bid to smaller MLPs. This has come about because of the shrinking pool of names available to populate the Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index (AMZIX) and the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) which tracks it.