Pipe dreams still alive for select few in US energy rout

New York

AN energy-market rout has ravaged fortunes from Texas to North Dakota and hit thousands of small investors, but some tycoons are still coining it in thanks to a piece of financial engineering that has tilted the playing field in their favour.

US pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren, for example, has pocketed over US$300 million in cash payouts from his company Energy Transfer Equity since the price of oil started to crater in mid-2014, according to a Reuters analysis based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.