Investment vehicles that funneled more than $100 billion into U.S. pipelines, storage and other facilities during the shale boom now face an existential crisis after oil tumbled so low that it upended assumptions about risks and returns they offer.
Those tax-protected structures were the Holy Grail of energy investing during the upswing, combining hefty payouts made possible by fast growing energy bloodstream with some protection against oil’s ups and downs offered by the “midstream” segment.
