Can Falling US Production Benefit Midstream/MLP Equities?

Midstream is arguably a volume-driven business. More production means more volumes moving through pipelines, more natural gas and NGL to be processed, and more demand for new or expanded infrastructure. Growing volumes of oil, natural gas and NGL have underwritten significant growth in midstream over the last several years, prompting a massive investment in the buildout of infrastructure.

But does volume growth actually matter for midstream/MLP equity performance? Maybe not. To be clear, production volumes can impact cash flow expectations and fundamentals for companies, but as has been demonstrated in midstream, equities do not always trade on fundamentals.