Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) is better placed than ever to generate strong and reliable total returns, after completing its merger with affiliated MLP Duncan Energy Partners LP.

Under the terms of the deal, there’s no change in ownership for Enterprise unitholders. Duncan unitholders will receive 1.01 units of Enterprise per Duncan unit held, with cash paid out for any fractional units.

Duncan unitholders also get what amounts to a 33 percent increase in cash distributions. The deal, however, remains accretive to Enterprise units, whose consecutive quarterly distribution increases are now 28 and counting. The reason: It adds ownership in assets formerly held jointly and eliminates overlap in operations.

Assets now include 50,200 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines and 27 billion cubic feet of natural gas storage capacity. The partnership also owns 192 million barrels of storage capacity for natural gas liquids, crude oil and refined products. Enterprise provides fractionation, transportation, gathering, processing, storage and import/export terminal services for natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), crude oil and refined products. And it operates offshore production platforms, petrochemical transportation and an inland/Intracoastal Waterway marine transport business in the Gulf of Mexico region.

These are almost all fee-based assets and services performed for extremely solid energy companies. Now combined with unmatched diversification and reach, they make Enterprise’s cash flows–and distributions–perhaps the most reliable in the industry.

The MLP boosted distributions quarterly like clockwork throughout the 2008 market crash/credit crunch/recession, as oil prices fell from over $150 per barrel to less than $30. And the now-expanded Enterprise would do even better in a possible future debacle.

Instead, the biggest challenge going forward is finding enough expansion opportunities to move the profit needle significantly on a $33 billion-plus asset portfolio. Recent rapid expansion particularly of NGLs assets and services–$1.7 billion projects completed in 2010 and the first half of 2011–will keep things going in the second half of 2011 and early 2012. Meanwhile, another $6 billion in projects under construction promise more growth ahead, as Enterprise expands its reach in every major US shale area.

In short, Enterprise is big enough to do virtually any deal and still has a wide range of opportunities to choose from. Borrowing costs have risen slightly in recent months as recession worries have surfaced. But its 30-year bonds are still yielding just 5.7 percent, roughly the same as a month ago and still a very low cost of capital.

Low capital costs and abundant opportunity to expand are the sure-fire formula for robust and reliable distribution growth. We expect another solid payout boost next month. Buy Enterprise Products Partners if you haven’t yet up to our target of 45.

Note that Encore Energy Partners LP (NYSE: ENP) is closing in on its merger with Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NYSE: VNR). We intend to hold Encore in the Aggressive Holdings until the deal is completed, and then Vanguard thereafter.

Unitholder meetings to vote on the deal are anticipated in the next several weeks. Note that Encore closed the purchase of some non-operating interests in mature oil and gas in the Gulf Coast area this month. That will make this deal even more valuable going forward. Encore Energy Partners has been volatile in the wake of uncertain economic conditions but is a buy up to our target of 24.

Southern Union (NYSE: SUG) has set Oct. 11 as the “record date” for a shareholder vote on Energy Transfer Equity LP’s (NYSE: ETE) takeover offer. That’s a $44.25 per share cash and equity unit offering, which has been endorsed by management. Investors who own Southern Union as of that date can vote on the deal.

Our skin in this game is through Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP), which will immediately receive an asset dropdown of a 50 percent interest in Citrus Corp. Citrus owns 100 percent of the Florida Gas Transmission Pipeline system, a major conduit for natural gas into the energy-starved Sunshine State.

Assuming Energy Transfer Equity is able to close on Southern Union in the first quarter of 2012 as planned, the dropdown of Citrus would occur shortly after, with Energy Transfer Partners paying its general partner $1.9 billion in cash plus $100 million of its common units. The cash portion will be funded in the near term with credit but ultimately with longer-term debt and enough equity to maintain the investment-grade credit rating. Energy Transfer Equity will forgo incentive distributions for four years after close, ensuring the Citrus purchase is immediately accretive to Energy Transfer Partners.

Uncertainty about what financing conditions will be when the deal closes continues to hang over Energy Transfer Partners’ unit price. As a result, the yield is now well over 8 percent, not including a distribution increase management has promised this year. Trading well off our buy target of 55, Energy Transfer Partners is a buy for anyone who doesn’t already own it.