Is that confetti raining from the sky? No, that would be a blizzard of 1Q earnings reports from our oil and gas producer friends commiserating sub-zero natural gas prices, and our midstream friends largely making hay....

When earnings season rolls around, which it now has with 1Q in the bag for most oil and gas companies, Wall Street analysts are nothing short of giddy to share their comparisons and contrasts among rivals following earnings reports. That’s what shareholders expect. But in the echelon of largest U.S. energy players, this exclusively translates to Exxon and Chevron—also ranked as fifth and seventh largest, respectively, in the world. ...