Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD), BreitBurn Energy Partners L.P. (BBEP) & Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA): Three MLPs for a Safe Retirement Portfolio

Moving beyond the Midwest

Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) is engaged in the business of crude oil, refined products, and natural gas liquids. The partnership has paid hefty distributions with solid increases. In the past five years, it has been able to enlarge its distributions by 29.58%. The partnership has increased distributions on a quarterly basis and currently offers a quarterly distribution of $0.575/share.

Is the distribution safe?

The partnership has been able to establish itself as one of the best master limited partnerships by concentrating on supplying the Midwest with crude oil to run its refineries. However, it is growing its product focus to include all of the United States and Canada. It is extending its business model from crude oil to refined products, natural gas liquids, liquefied petroleum gas, and natural gas to this end.

To do this, it is spending $300 million to $1.4 billion. One of its most valuable projects is Cactus Pipeline, which will connect the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford assets. The partnership is working on several other projects across Canada and the U.S. With this aggressive growth strategy, it has been able to increase its 2013 adjusted EBITDA projections by $135 million, representing an approximate 7% increase. This increase in projections represents its ability to sustain returns.

Conclusion

Enterprise Product Partners offers strong income. Its focus toward fee-based business is generating strong cash flows. BreitBurn is also investing heavily to increase its  production levels. This strategy has been working so far, and the company has been generating record productions quarter over quarter. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE:PAA) is expanding its business model, which will increase their revenue base. I believe its returns are safe as the partnership has increased its full year EBITDA projections by 7%.

The article Three MLPs for a Safe Retirement Portfolio originally appeared on Fool.com.

siraj is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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