Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD)

Enterprise Products is a pipeline partnership: it transports and processes gas and liquids while distributing nearly all its profit.

Being a partnership rather than a corporation means different taxation and different paperwork for the investor: payments are called distributions rather than dividends and are taxed differently. That is worth understanding before buying — the reporting peculiarities are more visible here than with an ordinary share.

The business is a network of pipelines, storage, gas processing plants and export terminals for natural gas liquids. Income is tariff-based and largely contracted, so cash flow is resilient to commodity price swings.

Ethane and propane export is the growth avenue: American feedstock is cheaper than the world price, and the difference leaves by tanker. Risks are permitting and regulation plus the capital intensity of expansions. The partnership has raised distributions for many consecutive years.