Crude has been the trade of 2026, with the United States Oil Fund (NYSEARCA:USO) up 86% year-to-date as Middle East disruptions and OPEC dynamics have squeezed supply. Investors seeking energy exposure without directly riding the futures curve have leaned on the VanEck Energy Income ETF (NYSEARCA:EINC), a midstream-heavy fund that pays income from pipeline operators rather than betting on the barrel.
Year to date, EINC has returned 24.54% with a 4.0% distribution yield. For an investor looking for fee-based cash flow without daily oil volatility, that performance has been reasonable enough. A closer look at the fund’s holdings, however, suggests the same exposure is available more cleanly elsewhere, with one name carrying most of the weight.
What EINC Actually Delivers
The MVIS North America Energy Infrastructure index is what EINC tracks, holding a concentrated basket of pipeline and storage names. The top 10 holdings account for 59.21% of assets, with Enbridge, Williams Companies, TC Energy, and Kinder Morgan among the largest weights.
Fund assets total $684.21 million, and the expense ratio is 0.46%. That fee is modest for a specialty ETF, though it still represents a recurring toll on top of what the underlying companies already collect. On a $50,000 position, that works out to roughly $230 annually going to the fund sponsor before any distributions reach the investor.
The bigger issue is diversification cost. Midstream is a small universe. Owning 25 names blends the strongest fee-based operators with weaker payers and adds Canadian withholding tax exposure on names like Enbridge and TC Energy. An investor wanting toll-road economics can get a purer version by holding one or two of the largest operators directly.
The Direct Route: Enterprise Products Partners
Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE:EPD | EPD Price Prediction) reported Q2 2026 revenue of $18.27 billion, up 60.8% year over year, with adjusted EBITDA of $2.83 billion, a 17% increase. Operational distributable cash flow hit $2.3 billion, providing 1.9x coverage of the $0.56 quarterly distribution. With that coverage in place, EPD is paying out roughly half of what it generates and retaining the rest for growth capex and buybacks, insulating the distribution from commodity swings.
The forward annualized distribution of $2.24 per unit against a recent price of $37.75 works out to a yield in the mid-5% range, above EINC’s 4.0%, with no fund-level expense drag. EPD has raised its distribution for 27 consecutive years and returned 23.19% year to date, essentially matching EINC while offering higher payout and $6.5 billion in growth projects under construction tied to LNG and NGL exports.
The IRA-Friendly Version: Kinder Morgan
K-1 tax forms are issued by EPD and Energy Transfer, and they can also trigger UBTI issues within retirement accounts. For an IRA or Roth, Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) is the cleaner fit, since it is a C corp that issues a standard 1099. Second quarter delivered EPS of $0.37, an 18.29% beat, and management raised full year guidance to more than 5% above the $8.60 billion adjusted EBITDA budget. The $9.6 billion project backlog sits at 92% natural gas, with over 60% tied to power generation and data center demand, both of which are indifferent to WTI prices.
At a recent price of $30.85, KMI pays $1.19 in annualized dividends, which works out to a yield near 3.9%. That C corp wrapper trades a slightly lower headline yield in exchange for tax simplicity. Sitting between the two is Energy Transfer (NYSE:ET), which delivered a 60.41% EPS beat in the second quarter and raised its distribution for the 19th consecutive quarter to $0.34, though it carries the same K-1 friction as EPD.
Tradeoffs Worth Naming
The swap carries tradeoffs. EINC’s 25-name basket smooths out any single-operator misstep, and moving to one or two direct holdings concentrates counterparty and regulatory risk. In a taxable account, selling EINC at a gain of roughly 24% YTD locks in a capital gain. K-1 forms add filing complexity for EPD or ET holders, though most tax software handles them.
Making the Call
An investor holding EINC purely for midstream toll-road economics can capture similar exposure by owning EPD outright in a taxable account, or KMI in an IRA, and keeping the 46 basis points that would otherwise go to the fund. A split position, roughly 60% EPD and 40% KMI, covers both structures.
Holders valuing broader diversification, including Canadian operators and refined-product names, may prefer to keep EINC. For investors whose goals are fee-based yield, distribution growth, and exposure to the LNG and data-center buildout, the direct route aligns with those criteria.
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