Maria Halmo, director of research at Alerian and a columnist for Midstream Business magazine, shared her insights during the Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference earlier this year in Pittsburgh.

Halmo said that new money is flowing into the midstream space because investors still have confidence and want exposure to the North American infrastructure buildout. Pipeline constraints in the Northeast are a problem, she said, but one that new projects coming online in the next five years can relieve once they make it past regulatory hurdles.

The builders of that needed infrastructure in the Northeast, she emphasized, will be MLPs.