Cheniere Drives AMNA Buybacks; Six Firms Repurchase $818M

Six constituents of the Alerian Midstream Energy Index repurchased $818 million of equity in the first quarter of 2026. Cheniere Energy accounted for $537 million of the total.

Cheniere repurchased more than $1 billion in each of 3Q25 and 4Q25. In February the company’s board approved an additional $9 billion in repurchase authorization, bringing total authorization to more than $10 billion through 2030. Cheniere’s shares rose about 46.0% on a price-return basis in 1Q26.

Other AMNA constituents that executed repurchases in 1Q26 included Enterprise Products Partners, which repurchased $116 million in common units; MPLX, $50 million; Targa Resources, $55 million; and Antero Midstream, $18 million. The six firms’ $818 million in repurchases trailed the $1.31 billion bought back by eight names in 4Q25.

Enterprise expects roughly $1 billion of discretionary free cash flow for the full year and plans to allocate 50%–60% of that toward buybacks, with the remainder targeted to debt reduction. Pembina renewed a normal course issuer bid despite making no repurchases under its prior program that was due to expire in May.

Hess Midstream expanded repurchase activity to the public in 2025 after previously buying only from its sponsor. The company repurchased about $80 million of units from the public last year and announced a $60 million repurchase in March that included $18 million from Chevron and $42 million from public holders.

By weighting, 17 AMNA constituents-nearly three-quarters of the index-have buyback authorizations in place. Companies continue to return cash to shareholders through dividend increases, buybacks and project reinvestment; dividend growth remains the primary distribution method for many midstream and MLP companies.

Quarterly buyback volumes eased in 1Q26 relative to the record levels seen in 3Q25 and 4Q25, when weaker equity prices created more frequent opportunistic buying. Cheniere’s share of repurchase activity rose over recent years: buybacks by the company represented almost 60% of AMNA constituents’ total repurchase spend in 2025, compared with about 30% in 2022.