To date, a trio of Portfolio and High Yield Energy list stocks have reported Q1 results and updated 2020 guidance.

We highlighted Kinder Morgan Inc (NYSE: KMI) in the April 23 Energy Commentary “Kinder’s Dividend Decision: Prudence, Not Weakness.” What we saw was as interesting for discerning trends in the North American midstream business as about the company itself.

The strength of Kinder’s natural gas pipelines demonstrated the advantages of basin diversification, as well as the premium value of capacity-based contracts over volume-sensitive deals. The negative guidance for its much smaller gathering and processing operations points up risks to midstream businesses that are heavily exposed to variability in volumes, especially close to the wellhead.