Shell Midstream's Harvey-Affected Pipelines Resume Service

Formed by Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) plc RDS.A, Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE:SHLX) announced that all of its oil and natural gas pipelines have resumed operations after tropical storm Harvey.

Hurricane Harveyled to heavy downpour which broke the record for rain in Texas, according to the National Weather Service. Hence, energy infrastructure assets near the Gulf coast were severely affected. Most of the production facilities were evacuated and refineries were shut down. The affected facilities are gradually resuming operations.

Shell Midstream apprehends a $15-million impact on its third-quarter income from core operations following the pipeline disruptions. The shutting down of the Zydeco pipeline system has primarily hurt Shell Midstream’s operating income. Meanwhile, on Sep 14, the final unit of the pipeline system restarted operations.

Based in Houston, TX, Shell Midstream has diversified energy infrastructure assets that comprise key pipelines. The pipelines transport oil and natural gas from the prospective onshore and offshore fields to the major refineries in the gulf coast area. The partnership’s pipelines also transport refined products to key markets.

However, the earnings surprise history of Shell Midstream has failed to impress. The partnership missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters with an average negative earnings surprise of 9.3%. Also, the partnership, belonging to the Zacks Oil Pipeline industry, has lost 5.1% year to date.

Shell Midstream currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), implying that the stock will perform in line with the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months.

A couple of better-ranked players in the energy sector are TransCanada Corporation (TO:TRP) and Transmontaigne Partners LP (NYSE:TLP) . Both the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Headquartered in Calgary, Canada, TransCanada is a midstream energy firm in North America. The company posted an average positive earnings surprise of 4.06% over the last four quarters.

Transmontaigne, headquartered in Denver, CO, is involved in the transportation and storage of refined petroleum products. The firm recorded an average positive earnings surprise of 6.60% over the last four quarters.

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