One of the strengths of MLPs is therelong-term contracts. This gives investors visibility far into the futureand makes projecting future cash flows easier and more reliable. It alsogives the business financial stability. But, long term contracts are atwo-edged sword. Sure, it’s great to have the predictability, but whathappens when the contract ends? Will the MLP be able to negotiate a renewalon same or better terms or will the customer walk away altogether? Longterm contracts can paper over deteriorating economics until investors get arude awakening. Particularly in a business as cyclical as oil and gas,future economics can look far different than the present.

MLP企业的优势之一就是长期合约。投资者可以借此洞察未来，也可更方便、更可靠地对未来现金流的使用情况进行计划。长期合同也让企业在财务上更加稳健。但是长期合同是把双刃剑。诚然，有可预见性是极好的，可是一旦合同到期会怎样呢？MLP企业可以协商续签同样的条款、或者签下更好的条款吗？还是有可能损失掉所有的客户呢？长期合同可以掩盖住下滑的经济，直到将来投资者才恍然大悟。尤其是在油气这种周期性行业里，未来的经济状况可能和现在完大不相同。

3. MidstreamCompanies Still have Commodity Exposure

3．中游的企业还面临着大宗商品的影响

While it is certainly true that midstreamcompanies do not have direct exposure to commodity pricing, the commodity cyclestill impacts their business. For example, storage businesses do better whenforward prices are higher than current spot rates, a situation known as“contango.” Contango increases storage needs because oil companies knowthey get more money by waiting than by selling it immediately. The GP hasfiduciary duty first and foremost to its own shareholders, not to the LPs.Because the GP has almost complete control of the MLP in any decision makingprocess, the GP can maximize its own benefits ahead of or even to the detrimentof the LP.

的确，中游的企业跟大宗商品的价格并无直接关系，但是大宗商品的周期性仍然对其行业有影响。例如，在期货价格高于当前汇率水平时，存储生意更有利的，这种情况称为“期货溢价”。期货溢价抬高了存储需求，因为石油公司了解按兵不动比立马卖出更赚钱。普通合伙人有首要受托责任，最重要的是对自己的股东而不是对有限合伙人有这个责任。因为普通合伙人对MLP企业的所有决策过程几乎有完全的控制权，所以普通合伙人可以将自己的利益摆在首位，甚至是以牺牲有限合伙人的利益为代价。 

A Closer Look At WPT

近距离观察WPT（World Point Terminals）

While combing through the wreckage of theMLP sector, we did come across one company that looks pretty good, WPT:

我们在MLP的残骸里四出搜寻，终于发现了一家看上去不错的企业，WPT：

Current 8% yield and distribution has grown dramatically

目前收益率是8%，分红显著提高。

Easy to understand. WPT’s sole activity is oil storage services.

容易看懂，WPT唯一的业务即提供石油储存服务。

No direct commodity exposure since it does not take title to the oil it stores

对储存的石油无所有权，所以没有直接的大宗商品风险。

Unlike many MLPs, the GP does not have a 2% LP interest. The GP only earns income on the IDRs. It does not make money on the MQD.

跟其它MLP企业不同，普通合伙人并不享有2%的有限合伙人利益。普通合伙人仅仅通过IDRs（投票权和激励分配权利）盈利，而并非MQD（最低季度股息）。

Sponsor provides just 38% of revenue reducing dependency on one customer.

赞助者仅仅提供营收的38%，削减了对客户的依赖性

High ROIC

高ROIC（投入资本回报率）。

Most importantly, WPT management seems toreject the idea of hopping on the MLP Treadmill. It has never increasedits distribution. It has distributed the minimum quarterly dividend eachquarter since going public in August 2013. Because the distribution hasnot grown, the company has not triggered any distributions on the IDRs. Further, it has not taken any debt to fund growth investments and has onlyparticipated in one dropdown transaction.

更重要的是WPT的管理层似乎不太愿意跳上MLP的跑步机。它从未提高过分红，自2013年上市一来，它一直在按最低季度股息分红。由于分红并未增加，该公司并未通过IDRs触发分红。再者，它也并未通过借债进行增长投资，“下放交易”（注：母公司将项目移交到MLP企业中）也只参与过一次。

As one might expect, Wall Street is nothappy about this. On the Q4 2014 conference, the following exchange tookplace:

如你所料，华尔街对此并不喜闻乐见。在2014年Q4的电话会议上，发生了以下事情：

Eric Wolff, Hawk Ridge Partners – Analyst

埃里克·沃尔夫，鹰岭合伙人——研究员

I appreciate the conservative nature of thebalance sheet. At the same time, I think your business is relatively stable,and one could argue that a very, very modest amount of debt, even if it’s justone or two times, is exceptionally safe, given the stability of the assetshistorically. What’s been the aversion to even taking on a modest amount ofdebt?

我很欣赏资产负债表的务实风格。同时，我认为贵司相对来说是稳健的，考虑到贵司资产历来的平稳性，一至两倍这样极低的债务水平都是异常安全的。为何贵司不愿意承受适当的债务呢？

J.Q. Affleck, World Point Terminals, LP – VPand CFO

J.Q.阿弗莱克，World Point Terminals, 有限合伙人—副主席，CFO