EENBEnbridge Inc

Enbridge owns pipelines: it charges for throughput and depends little on the price of what flows through them.

A toll-road model. The company moves crude from Canada into the United States and distributes natural gas, earning a tariff on volume rather than a share of the commodity's value. A large part of capacity is contracted on a take-or-pay basis, where the shipper pays whether or not it uses the line.

Hence cash-flow predictability unusual in energy and a high dividend yield, which is why the stock is held. The company has raised the payout for many consecutive years and plans it as an obligation rather than a residual.

The other side is capital intensity and debt: a pipeline takes years to build and is paid for in advance, so the cost of money matters. The dominant risk is regulatory: permitting a new route in North America has become nearly impossible, which both caps growth and protects the existing assets.