Mr. Cusick: I primarily cover the midstream MLPs.
TWST: What's the effect of the current static level of gas on your coverage from a business perspective?
Mr. Cusick: I think right now, overall we haven't seen a huge impact. Most of the MLPs have fee-based contracts to transport commodities. So we haven't seen too much of an impact. The partnerships who have some contracts that aren't necessarily fee-based have seen a bit of a pullback in earnings. But for the most part we've seen a fairly minimal impact.
TWST: Has the amount they've carried been affected by the economy at this point?
Mr. Cusick: We've definitely seen a pullback in some pipeline volumes during 2009, especially as some of the drillers have cut their rig counts. I think there was so much that was drilled last year that was ready to come online that we did not have capacity to transport. I think the full impact was minimized a bit because of some of the backlogs in projects.
Tickers included in this excerpt: EDP, EPB, MMP, NSH, PAA, SEP
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.