How Will Oil Price Sensitivity Impact Enterprise Products' Business?

Enterprise Products Partners LP EPD relies heavily on oil prices since it has a strong presence in the Permian. Shippers utilize EPD’s pipeline networks to transport crude from the most prolific basin of the United States to the end market or refineries. This confirms that Enterprise Products’ midstream business is sensitive to oil prices. For the long term, EPD generally expects the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to hover around $65 per barrel.

However, on the earnings call for first-quarter 2025, the partnership expressed a more cautious outlook that the oil price will trade at $60 or even $55 per barrel in the next three to five years. The partnership mentioned that at $55 to $60 per barrel, producers are generally capable of maintaining current production levels and mostly stop investing in new drilling.  

Thus, it seems that EPD expects oil production to slow down due to declining oil prices. Once there is a slowdown in volumes, there will be lower demand for the partnership’s pipeline network, which could hurt its revenue generation in the coming years.

Are Operations of WMB & KMI Also Exposed to Crude Price?

Although they are midstream energy majors, the businesses of Kinder Morgan KMI and Williams WMB are mostly exposed to natural gas prices rather than oil prices.

This is because KMI’s pipeline network, which transports natural gas and spans across 66,000 miles, is among the largest in the United States. Kinder Morgan’s pipeline network is responsible for transporting roughly 40% of the natural gas consumed in the domestic market.

Like KMI, Williams is also responsible for transporting huge volumes of natural gas. Notably, WMB is responsible for carrying a third of the nation’s natural gas through its pipeline network that spans over 33,000 miles.

EPD’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Units of EPD gained 20.8% over the past year, outpacing the 18.5% improvement of the composite stocks belonging to the industry.

One-Year Price Chart

From a valuation standpoint, EPD trades at a trailing 12-month enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) of 10.27x. This is below the broader industry average of 11.54x.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPD’s 2025 earnings hasn’t been revised over the past seven days. EPD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).  

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research