As hopes fade for a quick or even medium-term recovery in the price of crude oil and an interest rate hike looms, more people are bailing out of master limited partnerships (MLPs), investments long touted by Wall Street as immune to downturns. The Alerian MLP index hit its lowest level in more than five years this week and is down 30 percent so far this year. The index is far underperforming other yield-oriented indexes, including the MSCI REIT Index, which is down only 6 percent. The pipeline and processing plant companies that best typify the MLP sector make money like toll roads, charging fees based on traffic volumes. That model was long thought to inoculate them from price crashes. But a recent deal upset that logic when Chesapeake Energy Corp renegotiated lower fees with pipeline operator Williams Cos Inc. That deal, which also requires Chesapeake to move more gas, […]