Friday, March 14, 2025
Operations in the energy sector can be divided into three distinct subsectors: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Profits from two of them—upstream and downstream—vary significantly, with price changes for crude oil, natural gas, and refined fuels. The third sector, midstream, has stable revenue streams and makes a good choice for income-focused investors. Major energy companies like […]
The investing public has begun to realize that AI will require a massive buildout of data centers, and those centers will require vast amounts of energy to power their services and keep them cool. For example, a Chat-GPT query requires almost 10 times the power of a Google search. Energy midstream companies provide the gathering, […]
A recent article about a liquified natural gas (LNG) ship caught my attention and made me think about investments that take advantage of this one ship’s dilemma. Recently, Bloomberg reported that a sanctioned Russian LNG carrier ship almost circumnavigated the world looking for a buyer for the LNG on board. The ship was at sea […]
If you only read mainstream news, you probably think that crude oil consumption is falling and that fossil fuels will soon be replaced as an energy source by renewable sources and natural gas. That assumption is far from reality. Let’s start with global crude oil consumption. A decade ago, the planet consumed 83.65 million barrels […]
Energy midstream stocks appeal to investors with attractive yields and steady dividend growth. These days, with the focus on providing energy for data centers and AI, midstream companies with natural gas assets get the attention. Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) provides midstream services focused on crude oil, meaning it’s not on the radars of […]
This can be a frustrating time of year for investors in the types of stocks I follow and recommend. With little to no news about smaller companies, share price movement can be very random, and a random down will make investors ask: “why?” The real news is scarce for stocks that aren’t in the news […]
As I work with a minus-14-degree wind chill outside, my thoughts often turn to natural gas. Four weeks ago, natural gas traded for $2.00. In mid-December, it’s at $3.37, up 68% over the last four months. While trading natural gas futures is not a good idea for anyone but professional traders, investing in upstream energy […]
With a current yield near 20%, investors are wondering whether NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) is a high-yield deal, or a dividend cut trap. Let’s look at what brought us here and make some guesses about NEP’s future. From its IPO a decade ago until September last year, NEP was a dividend growth investor’s dream stock. […]
NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) was a dividend growth superstar for almost a decade. The company increased its dividend every quarter by 3% to 4%, giving 15% annual dividend growth. The average yield of 4% or so put NEP’s yearly compound total returns in the very high teens. However, the way NEP structured the debt it […]
The carbon-free renewable energy craze has about run its course. Wind and solar power don’t work without massive government subsidies and tax credits. They also don’t work when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind doesn’t blow. Still, humanity needs reliable energy. But traditional nuclear power plants are too expensive to build and operate economically, […]
