Northern Tier Energy LP (NTI)

[jugs]

Thank you for a great response!

The retail outlets are the quintessential captive audience for they are contractually obligated to buy their oil-based products from parent NTI. This brings other income streams into our stores. A great mix!

I think there's a lot of confusion when it comes to discussions over quarterly distribution. Seeking Alpha has been flitting between 60 cents for Q2 and the other day---$1.00. I think there's a lot of goofy talk, frankly, for nobody knows the extent of preemptively ramped up storage sufficient to carry the supply side through the 25 day shutdown in April. I'm expecting much the same thing to occur as a result of the maintenance shut-down come October. There's a slight irony in that the company acknowledges that there was no slacking off in meeting the needs of our preset wholesale buyers. I could be wrong but I'm thinking this means that storage was sufficient to cover the down time. Whether there was sufficient opportunity to take advantage of spot market deals in league with JPM Commodities in a shorter time span---I certainly don't know. But it's possible that this quarter will treat us well enough.

If nothing else, we've just had opportunity to accumulate at prices all the way down to $23.50. This past week has been phenomenally productive for me. I'm expecting we'll soon print $28. Probably the thing most frightening to investors is the lack of operating history as a Limited Partnership. But this, too, shall pass.

Jugs