The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Pembina Pipeline is a buy at $67.35. Guest columnist Gordon Pape writes that the stock's annual payout is $2.84 for a yield of 4.2 per cent. Calgary-based Pembina owns pipelines that transport hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in Western Canada. It also owns gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. During the darkest days of the pandemic, Pembina's board insisted the dividend would be protected at all costs. The market thought otherwise, and the share price fell from the $50 range to about $15 in early 2020. The company held firm and the shares have been on an upward track ever since. Mr. Pape warns, however, that energy is a fickle beast. When things are going well, they go very, very well. When they go bad, it's horrid. Horrid -- as in oil prices going to zero. That happened in April, 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, U.S. President Donald Trump's folly in Iran has changed the structure of the industry, with the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. If the conflict doesn't end soon, some analysts predict prices could hit $200 (U.S.) a barrel.