When shale drillers in the world’s largest oil producer started shutting in oil wells that had suddenly become uneconomical, many in the industry breathed a sigh of relief. That would put a floor under oil prices, they expected. And with E&Ps in the spotlight, another part of the oil supply chain remained largely ignored: the midstream. One of the things that made this year’s oil industry’s crisis different from most was that it affected every part of the supply chain. While usually the midstream and downstream would benefit from upstream’s excessive production woes, that was not the case this time, because demand was destroyed by the pandemic. So when shale drillers in the United States started idling rigs and shutting in wells, they started affecting the revenues and viability of their midstream collection, storage, and transport partners. And while demand for oil storage indeed soared, demand for pipeline transportation […]