Photo credit: Kinder Morgan.
America's energy boom has created a breathtaking opportunity for future retirees. The boom has opened up a $641 billion shortfall in the country's energy infrastructure. That's where midstream companies such as Energy Transfer Partners (ETP +0.00%), Boardwalk Pipeline Partners (BWP +0.00%) and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP) have an unprecedented pipeline of future growth opportunities.
Analysts predict that midstream companies will need to spend a total of $30 billion per year to support the growing supply of energy from America's shale basins. That's triple the previous estimate of $10 billion per year, which means the opportunity for future profits have also multiplied.
That plays right into the hands of Energy Transfer Partners and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, which already are among the nation's largest energy midstream companies. Energy Transfer Partners owns and operates 43,000 miles of natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products, and crude oil pipelines. Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is part of a family of companies that owns about 80,000 miles of pipelines along with 180 terminals. Both companies can build upon these substantial networks of pipelines to earn their investors a lot of money in the years ahead.
These companies will be spending billions of dollars over the next 20 years to build these critical energy infrastructure projects. As these projects come online, each will produce a long-term income stream for investors that has the potential to grow fairly large over the next few decades. It's a trend that could put your retirement on autopilot. I created the following slideshow to give you a small sample of the opportunities that await these three companies.
