Energy Transfer Raises 2026 Guidance; DKL Hits 54 Straight Dividend Raises

Energy Transfer (ET) gave investors two reasons to pay attention this week: a 31% jump in Q2 2026 adjusted EBITDA to $5.07 billion and a freshly raised full-year guidance range of $18.8 to $19.1 billion. The guidance bump from the prior $18.2 to $18.6 billion range came August 4, driven by volume records in NGL transportation (up 13%) and NGL exports (up 25%). ET's quarterly distribution moved to $0.3400 per unit, up from $0.3375 in Q1.

Related reading: oil price outlook, Russian energy sanctions, energy export architecture. See also our energy coverage on our crude oil topic hub.

Delek Logistics Partners (DKL) added a milestone of its own. The company raised its quarterly distribution for the 54th consecutive quarter to approximately $1.135 per unit, a streak stretching back more than 13 years. At a stock price near $52.30, that translates to a 7.7% yield. The payout record is rare in a sector that cut aggressively in the 2015-2016 oil crash and again during COVID. Analysts tracking DKL expect another increase in October given the 2026 cadence.

The case for both names rests on the same foundation: fee-based midstream revenue that does not rise or fall with the crude price. ET's volume records come from U.S. LNG export growth and petrochemical buildout along the Gulf Coast, filling pipes on long-term contracts. That insulation from spot commodity moves is why these distributions keep climbing even when WTI meanders sideways.

And WTI is doing exactly that. The front-month contract settled near $82.46 per barrel on August 17, up about 31.7% year over year but constrained by a bearish data point: U.S. commercial crude inventories built by 17.42 million barrels in the week ending August 7 to 424.4 million barrels, well above the consensus estimate of a 600,000-barrel draw. The EIA 5-year average sits near 396 million barrels, so the overhang is real. Geopolitical tension in the Strait of Hormuz has kept a bid under futures since early August, but the inventory number is a ceiling. Watch $85 as near-term resistance and $78 as support from the August 5 low.

The key risk for ET and DKL: both are bond-proxy names in a still-elevated rate environment. Higher-for-longer policy raises their cost of capital and compresses the yield premium investors assign to steady distributions. ET's management has kept debt discipline, but the guidance ramp to $18.8-19.1 billion requires continued volume growth. Any demand softening or build-out delay would push numbers lower.

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