As we have for more than a decade, we attended the 2018 MLP & Energy Infrastructure Conference (MEIC) in late May.

This year, we had the occasion to listen to presentations, participate in breakout sessions and one-on-one conversations with senior management at roughly 30 of the largest midstream energy companies in the US.

This week’s issue of Energy & Income Advisor will follow a slightly different format than usual.

During and following the conference, we compared notes and discussed some of our key questions and takeaways from MEIC.

Many of these discussions were recorded and, in this issue, we present an edited transcript of our conversations surrounding 7 key talking points: General takeaways from MEIC, MLP to corporation conversions, the FERC ruling on cost of service rates, US energy infrastructure bottlenecks, our picks (recommendations) coming out of MEIC, our main pans (stocks to avoid).

The majority of the names on our Focus List have benefited from the recent strength in crude-oil prices, a tailwind that has propelled several stocks above our buy targets—a high-quality problem and a welcome development after the energy sector’s performance last year.

Although we’re glad that our bullish outlooks for oil prices (an out-of-consensus view in the back half of 2017) and energy stocks have panned out, the forward-looking market doesn’t reward self-congratulation and complacency. Accordingly, the big question centers on what will come next for oil prices and energy stocks.

As we noted in the April 30 issue of Energy & Income Advisor, the fundamental backdrop for oil prices appears favorable over the next few years, as recent under-investment in exploration and development outside the US results in a steepening decline rate.

We’ve launched an actively managed model portfolio to help readers prepre for what’s next.