For the 16th straight year, the Potential Gas Committee at the Colorado School of Mines has increased its estimate of the United States' natural gas resource base. Given the prospect of expanding domestic supplies of natural gas, should pipeline operators and their investors break out the party hats?
For now, at least, shareholders of Enterprise Product Partners
Enterprise is also building for the future, and that took a bite out of the bottom line, as well. With $2.1 billion in new refining and pipeline assets just ramping up, higher depreciation expenses and interest on the financing nicked net income by another $43 million. When those new assets are going full steam, though, those costs should be covered by new revenues.
But over the long term, and as one of the largest pipeline companies in the country, Enterprise is well-positioned to benefit from an upswing in natural gas usage anticipated over the next 25 years.
Enterprise is especially attractive because it offers investors a way tap into the energy boom without forcing them to put up with the gyrations in oil and gas prices that companies like ExxonMobil
And like other master limited partnerships, the firm generates large and regular distributions, the bulk of which are tax-deferred as long as you hold the shares. Income-oriented investors might want to give this Income Investor recommendation a look.
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