Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014

Since 2008, BP (NYSE: BP  ) has been working on a multi-billion-dollar modernization project at its Whiting refinery in Indiana, the company's largest U.S. refinery. As the British oil giant moves closer to completing the last remaining upgrades at Whiting, let's take a closer look at what effect its start-up may have on North American benchmark crude oil prices.

New crude unit start-up at Whiting
On July 1, BP announced the start-up of a new 250,000-barrel-per-day crude distillation unit, which returned the Whiting refinery to its �nameplate processing capability of 413,000 barrels per day. In the second half of the year, BP said that it expects to install a new 105,00- barrel-per-day gasoil hydrotreater, a 102,000-barrel-per-day coker and other related units at the facility.

The Whiting modernization project is part of BP's efforts to revamp its U.S. downstream operations, which have so far included upgrades at refining facilities in Cherry Point, Wash., and Toledo, Ohio, as well as a sale of its Carson, Calif., refinery and other assets to Tesoro (NYSE: TSO  ) for $2.4 billion last month. From Tesoro's perspective, the transaction will help the company further integrate its West Coast refining, marketing, and logistics network.

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Halliburton Company(HAL)

Halliburton Company provides various products and services to the energy industry for the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas worldwide. It operates in two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services, completion tools and services, cementing services, and Boots & Coots. Its production enhancement services include stimulation and sand control services; completion tools and services comprise subsurface safety valves and flow control equipment, surface safety systems, packers and specialty completion equipment, intelligent completion systems, expandable liner hanger systems, sand control systems, well servicing tools, and reservoir performance services; cementing services consist of bonding the well and well casing, while isolating fluid zones and maximizing wellbore stability, and casing equipment; and Boots & Coots include well intervention services , pressure control, equipment rental tools and services, and pipeline and process services. The Drilling and Evaluation segment provides field and reservoir modeling, drilling, evaluation, and wellbore placement solutions that enable customers to model, measure, and optimize their well construction activities. Its services comprise fluid services, drilling services, drill bits, wireline and perforating services, testing and subsea services, software and asset solutions, and integrated project management and consulting services. The company serves independent, integrated, and national oil companies. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Having repurchased 23 million shares, or $1 billion worth of company stock, in the second quarter, oil services giant Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) announced today it had approved an increase to $5 billion in its buyback program.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  The main reason for this has been the large-scale application of new technologies, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," that have allowed producers to more easily coax oil and gas from dense rock formations. Though oilfield services firm Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) was the first company to use hydraulic fracturing commercially to recover oil and gas all the way back in 1949, the practice didn't become widespread until just about half a decade ago.

• [By Isac Simon]

  The muscles behind the brains
  Who helps in developing these resources? This is where the technological expertise of oilfield-services companies is required. And the best among them are Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) and Cameron International (NYSE: CAM  ) . Halliburton's well-construction and drilling teams seem to have a definite edge over other players in the industry. The services extend from well-bore evaluation to well-completion methods. The entire gamut of services is on offer. Cameron's well-surface equipment, as well as services for high-pressure, high-fluid volume fracturing, flowback operations and well testing, are industry standards.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  For instance, though oilfield services firms Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB  ) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL  ) have shown a keen interest in developing China's shale resources, the absence of clearly defined and enforceable patent and property protection laws has given them reason to pause. �

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Hi Crush Partners LP (HCLP)

Hi Crush Partners LP, formerly Hi-Crush Partners LP, is a domestic producer of monocrystalline sand, a specialized mineral that is used as a proppant to enhance the recovery rates of hydrocarbons from oil and natural gas wells. The Company reserves consist of Northern White sand, a resource existing in Wisconsin and limited portions of the upper Midwest region of the United States. It owns, operates and develops sand reserves and related excavation and processing facilities and will seek to acquire or develop additional facilities. The Company's 561-acre facility with integrated rail infrastructure, located near Wyeville, Wisconsin, enables it to process and deliver approximately 1,600,000 tons of frac sand per year. In June 2013, Hi Crush Partners LP announced the completion of its acquisition of D&I Silica, LLC (D&I).

The Company�� frac sand production is sold to investment grade-rated pressure pumping service providers under long-term, contracts that require its customers to pay a specified price for a specified volume of frac sand each month. The Company owns and operates the Wyeville facility, which is located in Monroe County, Wisconsin and, as of December 31, 2011, contained 48.4 million tons of proven recoverable sand reserves of mesh sizes it has contracted to sell. From the Wyeville in-service date to March 31, 2012, it had processed and sold 555,250 tons of frac sand.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rick Munarriz]

  Tuesday
  Hi-Crush Partners (NYSE: HCLP  ) checks in on Tuesday. This is another high-yielding limited partnership that went public last year. Hi-Crush is a producer of monocrystalline sand that's primarily used in the fracking process.

Hot Casino Stocks To Watch Right Now: Genesis Energy LP (GEL)

Genesis Energy, L.P. (Genesis) is a limited partnership focused on the midstream segment of the oil and gas industry in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, primarily Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico. The Company has a portfolio of customers, operations and assets, including pipelines, refinery-related plants, storage tanks and terminals, barges and trucks. Genesis provides an integrated range of services to refineries, oil, natural gas and carbon dioxide (CO2) producers, industrial and commercial enterprises that use sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) and caustic soda, and businesses that use CO2 and other industrial gases. The Company operates in three segments: Pipeline Transportation, Refinery Services, and Supply and Logistics. In August 2011, the Company acquired black oil barge transportation business of Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. In November 2011, it acquired a 90% interest in a 3,500 barrel per day refinery located in Converse County, Wyoming, including 300 miles of abandoned 3- 6 pipeline. On January 3, 2012, it acquired interests in several Gulf of Mexico crude oil pipeline systems, including its 28% interest in the Poseidon pipeline system, its 29% interest in the Odyssey pipeline system, and its 23% interest in the Eugene Island pipeline system. In August 2013, the Company announced that it has completed the acquisition of all the assets of the downstream transportation business of Hornbeck Offshore Transportation, LLC (Hornbeck).

Pipeline Transportation

The Company transports crude oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) for others for a fee in the Gulf Coast region of the United States through approximately 550 miles of pipeline. Its Pipeline Transportation segment owns and operates three crude oil common carrier pipelines and two CO2 pipelines. Its 235-mile Mississippi System provides shippers of crude oil in Mississippi indirect access to refineries, pipelines, storage terminals and other crude oil infrastructure ! located in the Midwest. Its 100-mile Jay System originates in southern Alabama and the panhandle of Florida and provides crude oil shippers access to refineries, pipelines and storage near Mobile, Alabama. The Company�� 90-mile Texas System transports crude oil from West Columbia to several delivery points near Houston. Its crude oil pipeline systems include access to a total of approximately 0.7 million barrels of crude oil storage.

The Company�� Free State Pipeline is an 86-mile, 20 CO2 pipelines that extends from CO2 source fields near Jackson, Mississippi, to oil fields in eastern Mississippi. It has a twenty-year transportation services agreement (through 2028) related to the transportation of CO2 on its Free State Pipeline.

Refinery Services

Genesis provides services to eight refining operations located in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, which operates storage and transportation assets in relation to its business and sell NaHS and caustic soda to industrial and commercial companies. The refinery services involve processing refiner�� sulfur (sour) gas streams to remove the sulfur. The refinery services also include terminals and it utilizes railcars, ships, barges and trucks to transport product. Its contracts are long-term in nature and have an average remaining term of four years.

Supply and Logistics

The Company provides services to Gulf Coast oil and gas producers and refineries through a combination of purchasing, transporting, storing, blending and marketing of crude oil and refined products, primarily fuel oil. It has access to a range of more than 250 trucks, 350 trailers and 50 barges with 1.5 million barrels of terminal storage capacity in multiple locations along the Gulf Coast, as well as capacity associated with its three common carrier crude oil pipelines.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Genesis Energy (NYSE: GEL  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings around July 9. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

  The 10-second takeaway
  Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Genesis Energy's revenues will grow 30.3% and EPS will grow 52.2%.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Midstream oil and gas MLP Genesis Energy (GEL) raised its quarterly distribution 2.5% to 52.25 cents per share, payable Nov. 14 to unitholders of record as of Nov. 1.
  GEL Dividend Yield: 4.25%

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: ConocoPhillips(COP)

ConocoPhillips operates as an integrated energy company worldwide. The company?s Exploration and Production (E&P) segment explores for, produces, transports, and markets crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and natural gas liquids. Its Midstream segment gathers, processes, and markets natural gas; and fractionates and markets natural gas liquids in the United States and Trinidad. The company?s Refining and Marketing (R&M) segment purchases, refines, markets, and transports crude oil and petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels. Its Chemicals segment manufactures and markets petrochemicals and plastics. This segment offers olefins and polyolefins, including ethylene, propylene, and other olefin products; aromatics products, such as benzene, styrene, paraxylene, and cyclohexane, as well as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; and various specialty chemical products comprising organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalyst s, drilling chemicals, mining chemicals, and engineering plastics and compounds. The company?s Emerging Businesses segment develops new technologies and businesses. It focuses on power generation; and technologies related to conventional and nonconventional hydrocarbon recovery, refining, alternative energy, biofuels, and the environment. This segment also offers E-Gas, a gasification technology producing high-value synthetic gas. ConocoPhillips was founded in 1917 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Similarly, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) recently said it is suspending plans to drill in Alaskan waters in 2014 because of regulatory, permitting, and other uncertainties, while Statoil (NYSE: STO  ) announced last year that it will postpone drilling in the American Arctic until 2015. To be sure, these companies have good reasons to be hesitant in their Arctic ambitions.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Also, to comound these problems, there isn't a clear leader of the project that can steer its investment deicisions. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) , Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A  ) , Eni (NYSE: E  ) , Total (NYSE: TOT  ) , and Kazakh national oil company KazMunaiGas each have a�16.81% working interest in the project. This has led to problems involving investment decisions and project mangement.�Both�ExxonMobil�and�Royal Dutch Shell�have been extremely�disappointed�with the results, to the point that they have threatened to pull out of the project altogether on a couple of occasions, and�ConocoPhillips� (NYSE: COP  ) did get out this year by selling its $5 billion stake in the project to China National Petroleum.

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  The large uptick in domestic production will have some major implications on natural gas markets. With ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) just receiving approval for LNG exports to countries not in free trade agreements with the U.S. at its Freeport facility, and Cheniere Energy's (NYSEMKT: LNG  ) facility due to come on line in 2015, the U.S. natural gas market will have something it doesn't have right now: an outlet for excess supply. U.S. LNG exports, plus all the Canadian gas we are using today, could be an opportunity for European countries to diversify its natural gas sources and in turn reduce the risk of repeating an incident like the U.K. suffered back in March.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Exxon's net income margin, however, fell only modestly, coming in at 10.9% last year, as compared with 10.5% in 2005. And ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP  ) was one of the few majors that managed to buck the weak margin trend, posting an impressive 14% net income margin last year, up from 8.2% in 2005.

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Whiting Petroleum Corporation(WLL)

Whiting Petroleum Corporation engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation, exploration, and production of oil and gas primarily in the Permian Basin, Rocky Mountains, Mid-Continent, Gulf Coast, and Michigan regions of the United States. As of December 31, 2010, its estimated proved reserves were 304.9 million barrels equivalent of oil; and had interests in 9,698 gross productive wells covering approximately 1,115,000 gross developed acres. The company sells its oil and gas to end users, marketers, and other purchasers. Whiting Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1983 and is Denver, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Kodiak has been growing its production very significantly over the past few years. Just last December it was ranked tenth in total Bakken production at 20,423 barrels of oil per day. At the time, the company was producing less than a third of the oil that the top producers in the play where producing. That month Whiting Petroleum (NYSE: WLL  ) topped production at 65,156 barrels of oil per day while Continental was second at 65,141 and Hess (NYSE: HES  ) was third at 64,657 barrels of oil per day. While this deal won't leapfrog it to the top, when combined with its organic growth it's helping to turn Kodiak into a significant Bakken producer.

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Archer Ltd (ARCHER)

Archer Ltd, formerly Seawell Limited is a Bermuda-based global oilfield service company. The Company provides drilling services, such as platform drilling, land drilling, modular rings, directional drilling, drill bits, tubular services, drilling and completion fluids, cementing tools, plugs and packers, underbalanced services, rentals and engineering. It specialises also in well services, such as wireline intervention, specialist intervention, frac valves, wireline logging, integrity diagnostics, imaging, production monitoring, coiled tubing, completion services and fishing. As of January 3, 2012, the Company's organizational structure centered on four geographic and strategic areas: North America (NAM), North Sea (NRS), Latin America (LAM) and Emerging Markets & Technologies (EMT). As of December 31, 2010, it was active through a number of subsidiaries, namely Seawell, Allis-Chalmers Energy, Gray Wireline, Rig Inspection Services and TecWel, among others.

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.(RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates in the cruise vacation industry worldwide. It owns five cruise brands, which comprise Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, and CDF Croisi�es de France. The Royal Caribbean International brand provides various itineraries and cruise lengths with options for onboard dining, entertainment, and other onboard activities primarily for the contemporary segment. It offers surf simulators, water parks, ice skating rinks, rock climbing walls, and shore excursions at each port of call, as well as boulevards with shopping, dining, and entertainment venues. The Celebrity Cruises brand operates onboard upscale ships that offer luxurious accommodations, fine dining, personalized services, spa facilities, venue featuring live grass, and glass blowing studio for the premium segment, as well as resells computers and other media devices. The Pullmantur brand provides an array of onboard activities and serv ices to guests, including exercise facilities, swimming pools, beauty salons, gaming facilities, shopping, dining, complimentary beverages, and entertainment venues serving the contemporary segment of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cruise markets. The Azamara Club Cruises brand offers various onboard services, amenities, gaming facilities, fine dining, spa and wellness, butler service for suites, and interactive entertainment venues for the up-market segment of the North American, United Kingdom, German, and Australian markets. The CDF Croisieres de France brand offers seasonal itineraries to the Mediterranean; and various onboard services, amenities, entertainment venues, exercise and spa facilities, fine dining, and gaming facilities for the contemporary segment of the French cruise market. As of December 31, 2011, the company operated 39 ships with a total capacity of approximately 92,650 berths. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. was founded in 1968 and is headqua rtered in Miami, Florida.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) was maintained Buy and its target was raised by $2 to $46 at Argus.

  Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) was started with an Outperform rating by Raymond James.

• [By Christopher Palmeri]

  Norwegian Cruise Line, the third-largest U.S. cruise operator after Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL), has advanced 57 percent since the sale of 27.1 million shares at $19 each in the IPO, giving it a market value of $6.07 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock fell 1.7 percent to $29.76 at the close in New York yesterday.

Top Oil Companies To Watch For 2014: Occidental Petroleum Corporation(OXY)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company primarily in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Oil and Gas; Chemical; and Midstream, Marketing, and Other. The Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, natural gas liquids, and condensate and natural gas. Its domestic oil and gas operations are located in Texas, New Mexico, California, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, and West Virginia; and international oil and gas operations are located in Bahrain, Bolivia, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. As of December 31, 2010, this segment had proved reserves of approximately 3,363 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated organics, potassium chemicals, and ethylene dichloride products; vinyls, such as vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride; and other chemicals comprising chlorinated isocyanurates, resorcinol, sodium silicates, and calcium chloride products. The Midstream, Marketing, and Other segment gathers, treats, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets crude oil that includes natural gas liquids and condensate, as well as natural gas and carbon dioxide. This segment also involves in the power generation; and trades around its assets comprising pipelines and storage capacity, as well as oil and gas, other commodities, and commodity-related securities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo.

  Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) was reinstated as Buy with a $27 price target at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

• [By Michael Flannelly]

  Early on Monday, analysts at Deutsche Bank lowered their price target on Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) to reflect a lower-than-expected valuation of an asset that the oil and gas exploration company is trying to sell.

  Though the analysts lowered OXY’s price target from $114 to $109, they still maintain a “Buy” rating on the stock. The new price target suggests a 22% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $89.49.

  Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey said, “Bloomberg Finance LP reports that Oxy is seeking sale of 40% of Mideast operations for around $8bn, which would imply $20bn total value for the unit. However reportedly some suitors are valuing the asset at around $15bn. This is a relatively negative valuation against our previous view that Oxy would be seeking $25+bn for its MENA business. We are cutting our price target to $109/share to reflect this lower implied valuation.”

  Occidental Petroleum shares were up 96 cents, or 1.07%, during pre-market trading on Monday. The stock is up 16.81% year-to-date.