Alerian examines the strategic parallels between refining and midstream and discusses what energy infrastructure companies can learn from their downstream peers in regard to free cash flow and enhancing shareholder returns.

How will midstream fare in the new decade? Watch our three-minute 2020 Midstream Outlook video for a recap of 2019 and a look ahead to some key trends for this year, including growing energy production and exports, free cash flow generation, and potential catalysts. Related links: Midstream Malaise: What’s Wrong (and Right) with Midstream? 3Q19...

The holiday season is an opportune time to discuss seasons with energy repercussions – think hurricane, heating, injection, withdrawal, and driving seasons. Today’s piece explores these topics and which midstream businesses are subject to seasonality.

It’s that time of year! Our annual Christmas Karyl is ready for your listening (and viewing!) pleasure. From all of us at Alerian, have a wonderful holiday season!

In a challenging macro environment for the energy space, the broad midstream universe has performed defensively this year. Today, we review midstream’s performance to date and analyze some of the differences in performance through the lens of characteristics such as size, structure, geography, and business classification.

Democratic presidential candidates have expressed support for notable energy policy changes, with some proposing to ban fracking altogether. This piece attempts to provide some context around energy production on federal lands, what the president has the power to do, and how fracking is regulated.

Although IDRs were once a staple of the MLP space, the majority of AMZ constituents have eliminated their IDRs in recent years. Today’s piece discusses recent developments in the trend of IDR buyouts and what could be in store for those MLPs that still have IDRs.

Although midstream remains defensive, the sector has not been immune to the general malaise in energy. This piece provides an update on what has been plaguing broader energy, what is weighing on midstream, and the factors still working in midstream’s favor.

Natural gas liquids (NGLs) have grown in importance within midstream as US production and exports have risen quickly over the last few years. This week’s Insights post provides a high-level update on what’s driving NGL prices and inventories, production, and exports, as well as the infrastructure being developed to facilitate it all.

Summary // For the first time in over a year, no AMZ or AMZI constituent cut their distribution sequentially. The majority of AMZ and AMZI constituents grew their 3Q19 distributions on a year-over-year basis. Solid company-level fundamentals, including improved distribution coverage, provides added comfort around a historically high yield. 3Q19 was the first cut-free quarter...

Summary// The pass-through structure of MLPs provides significant tax efficiency but comes with some complexities that are important for investors to understand. The majority of MLP distributions are generally tax-deferred, with the remainder taxed as ordinary income in the current year. MLP investment products provide exposure to MLPs without the hassle of K-1 forms but...