For Investors Only: WSJ -- Investing in the Unconventional Oil Patch

Link here to a fairly superficial WSJ article.

...a new ETF, Market Vectors Unconventional Oil and Gas —with the fitting symbol of FRAK. It invests in a range of companies that use fracking drilling techniques and those with exposure to shale oil, shale gas and related areas. One of its largest holdings, EOG Resources, has shifted the bulk of its production to oil from natural gas and is benefiting as oil prices soar.

But also this:

... is steering clients to master limited partnerships like Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Enterprise Products Partners. MLPs are companies that own and operate pipelines, primarily for natural gas and oil. They're partnerships and retain no earnings and pay no taxes; instead, they pay out all profits to partners ....

And,

... it may be too late to make a big plunge into shale and fracking investments. He notes that these companies are seeing more scrutiny, due to the potential for environmental damage.
He recommends investing in certain energy-intensive industries that will benefit from low, long-term natural-gas prices, such as chemical companies.

I'm a fan of master limited partnerships.

I am seeing more and more written about chemical companies taking advantage of low natural gas prices. I also think manufacturers with large energy needs will benefit from low natural gas prices. I assume some utilities using coal will get discounts from coal supplies with threat of moving to natural gas. Bottom line: manufacturers might report some nice numbers 2Q11 as their energy costs go down.

This is not an investment site. See disclaimer. I post investment stories affecting the Bakken for the interest of the reader. I won't be trading shares any time soon in any of the companies mentioned in this post.