Recently a long-time investor Jeff Waters suggested that it might be interesting to dig a little deeper into the valuation metrics that make midstream energy infrastructure such an attractive sector. It resulted in a podcast interview, which you can access here.

The roughly 2/3rds drop in growth capex since 2018 underpins an improving cash flow story. The components of the American Energy Independence Index (AEITR) have a market-cap weighted Free Cash Flow (FCF) yield of 10%. This is almost 2X the dividend. Longtime MLP investors will recall the common practice whereby MLPs paid out 90% or more of their Distributable Cash Flow. This left very little room for error.

Since 2016 the payout on the MLP-dedicated Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) is down by half. Corporations have done better because they generally have higher coverage. Today’s pipeline CFO is building in plenty of cushion to protect payouts even in a steep downturn, which is why dividend hikes and buybacks are becoming more common.

JPMorgan just published a slide deck titled, “North America Long + World Short Hydrocarbons = Logistics Tailwinds.” An already positive outlook improved with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. There is no plausible scenario in which Europe restores its reliance on Russian natural gas. The US has ample supplies available at low extraction costs. LNG exports will grow as fast as new facilities can be built.

The table below highlights some of the metrics which illustrate why we believe pipelines still have plenty of upside. For example, the sector’s 9X EV/EBITDA is more than 1.0X below the average since 2019. Returning to the mean would generate at least 15% capital appreciation.

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Investment grade Debt:EBITDA leverage of 3.5X continues to trend lower. Five years ago Kinder Morgan argued unsuccessfully to rating agencies that >5X was justified because of their diverse set of businesses. The industry has embraced a more conservative operating model.

It’s also worth remembering the driving force behind increased global energy demand – rising living standards. The chart below is several years old, but still neatly illustrates the close relationship between living standards and energy use. America’s per capita consumption may not be what the world should emulate, but there is no doubt that billions of people want to move up and to the right. This will endure as the dominating force in energy markets for decades to come, overwhelming rich countries’ desire for reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The last couple of years have exposed the inadequacy of extreme green policies followed in the EU and certain US states. Once again Californians are enduring a heatwave with insufficient power capacity.

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Carrie Bentley, a former policy official with the California Independent System Operator, said California had allowed too much fossil fuel capacity to be shut down without adequate renewable sources and large-scale back-up batteries. She admitted, “We retired too many gas plants too early.”

A reassessment of extreme climate policies should work to the benefit of natural gas by increasing its substitution for coal burning power plants.

Elizabeth The Great

So said ex-PM Boris Johnson in his moving eulogy to the British House of Commons on Friday. King Charles III referred to “a promise with destiny kept.” I have felt a surprising sadness at Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, similar perhaps to losing a distant but benevolent aunt. Rarely for me, I have a desire to be in England at this time, an emotion I only previously felt when our team played in the European Cup Final last year at Wembley, London. She was a constant during times of change; queen for my entire lifetime and an apolitical figurehead often when one was most needed.

My grandparents tolerated no criticism of the royal family during my childhood. They remembered then-Princess Elizabeth and her parents enduring the German blitz of 1940 alongside other Londoners. Simon Schama, the erudite writer who chronicles major current events from the perspective of history’s great arc, called Elizabeth, “quintessential Britain; not all of it, of course, but more than the head of state — the heart of the matter, the personification of a common, idealised identity.”

Some Americans will question that hereditary leadership should provoke such sentimentality. I’ve never heard any regrets that George III was dumped in 1776.

But to be a British subject is to embrace the Crown. I live joyfully in America but part of me will always be there.

We have three funds that seek to profit from this environment:

Energy Mutual Fund

Energy ETF

Real Assets Fund

Please see important Legal Disclosures.

 

 

Few should be surprised that Russia has shut off all natural gas to western Europe, on a timing of their choosing not Germany’s. EU countries and the UK are implementing price controls and residential subsidies in various forms to cushion the blow from electricity prices that have risen as much as 10X over the past year. Italy plans to limit apartment thermostats to 66°F this winter.

Newly minted UK PM Liz Truss is considering a £100BN aid package that might reach £135BN ($155BN), around 5% of GDP. European governments are covering most of the increased cost of energy for households and/or waiving taxes, via loans to providers. The shortfall will be made up through future tax revenue and gradually increasing prices.

For many there is no plausible politically feasible alternative. By subsidizing demand, such policies delay the demand destruction that’s necessary to bring European energy markets into balance. It’s difficult to see governments exiting the subsidy business anytime soon. Since natural gas is often the marginal source of power in most European markets, it sets the price of electricity.

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This has perversely created windfall profits for renewables businesses, which now face the prospect of a windfall tax across the EU. Ironically, solar and wind power generators are the big winners because their costs haven’t gone up. This ought to create strong incentives to invest in additional renewables capacity, except that’s where the proposed windfall profits tax will fall most heavily. European energy policies are turning into perhaps the biggest public policy failure since World War II. It should be called the Merkel Energy Crisis since Germany’s recently retired chancellor was such a significant architect.

At least Klaus-Dieter Maubach, the CEO of Uniper, Germany’s biggest importer of natural gas, had the honesty to concede that trusting Gazprom to be a reliable supplier and the absence of LNG import infrastructure were both mistakes. In a recent video he noted that wholesale power prices were as much as 20X the level of two years ago. Maubach warned that worse was to come for European customers.

Price caps on Russian crude oil are likely coming, although we think their enforceability will be difficult. Western insurance companies provide coverage on around 90% of seaborne trade, and the G7 plan relies on the threat of withholding such insurance from buyers of Russian crude oil that refuse to comply with whatever price cap G7 imposes.

This seems simplistic. If India wants to buy Russian crude, insurance could be provided by either country. It’s also possible such a move will induce OPEC+ to regard it as interfering with their price setting ability and trim demand. Yesterday they announced a modest reduction of 100K barrels per day.

The bottom line is that western sanctions on Russian energy supplies have so far served to raise prices and enrich Russia.

Markets continue to regard developments as positive for the US energy sector. Long term demand for US LNG seems assured. The enormous price difference between the US Henry Hub natural gas benchmark and both the TTF European and JKM Asian ones is likely to prevail for several years given the time it takes to add LNG export capacity.

This should continue to underpin US companies involved in natural gas infrastructure, such as Cheniere, Williams Companies and Energy Transfer. We also still like NextDecade, which is an early-stage LNG exporter we believe will soon start construction on their Rio Grande, TX facility. LNG exports are still some way off for NextDecade so it’s a more speculative holding than most midstream infrastructure companies. But we think the stock has substantial upside from current levels assuming ultimate success.

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The US isn’t totally immune from poor energy policies. California is once again asking residents to curb power consumption during a heatwave. Years of shutting natural gas power plants has increased the state’s dependence on intermittent solar, an energy source poorly aligned with peak residential demand around dinner time. All while China pumps out ever more CO2.

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Sell side analysts have been revising down their 3Q earnings forecasts for most sectors over the past couple of months. Energy is the standout exception where the outlook continues to improve. Since the end of 2019 (ie before the pandemic) the American Energy Independence Index (AEITR) has returned 16% pa – solidly ahead of the S&P500 at 9% but still not euphoric.

The components of the AEITR have a market-cap weighted free cash flow yield of 10% and leverage (Debt:EBITDA) of 3.7X. The sector continues to generate growing cashflows with strong balance sheets.

We have three funds that seek to profit from this environment:

Energy Mutual Fund

Energy ETF

Real Assets Fund

Please see important Legal Disclosures.