Top 5 Oil Stocks To Buy For 2014

If you read an earnings report or listened to conference call this quarter, you might have heard a recurring theme. Or at least I did, as almost every company I followed this earnings season blamed Mother Nature for missing analyst estimates. What was interesting is that this time it wasn't the retailers that were using the weather as an excuse. Instead, companies engaged in oil and gas production were the ones�complaining about the weather.

On Heckmann's (NYSE: NES  ) recent conference all, the frack-water treatment specialist made mention of the weather nearly two dozen times. The executive chairman led off the call by saying, "As you can see by our release, we had a very strong quarter in the face of fairly tough weather." The company missed analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines, and "without question weather was the biggest factor for the first quarter," according to CEO Mark Johnsrud.

In fact, weather was so bad in its operating areas that Johnsrud went on to say: "Unusually harsh conditions in the Bakken affected approximately 13 days of work or almost 15% of the quarter. Additional to that is we lost approximately five days of work in the Marcellus due to inclement weather." When you put into context that those areas represent two of the company's largest operating basins, the fact that it missed revenue expectations by 4.4% isn't that big of a deal.

Top Biotech Companies To Invest In Right Now: SandRidge Permian Trust (PER)

SandRidge Permian Trust (the Trust) is a trust formed by SandRidge Energy, Inc. (SandRidge) to own royalty interests in 509 developed oil and natural gas wells located in Andrews County, Texas (the Producing Wells), and 888 oil and natural gas development wells to be drilled (the Development Wells) within an Area of Mutual Interest (AMI). The AMI consists of the Grayburg/San Andres formation in the Permian Basin in Andrews County, Texas. As of December 31, 2010, SandRidge held approximately 16,700 gross acres (15,900 net acres) in the AMI.The Underlying Properties consist of the working interest owned by SandRidge in the Permian Basin in Andrews County, Texas arising under leases and farmout agreements related to properties from which the PDP Royalty Interest and the Development Royalty Interest will be conveyed.

The royalty interest in the Producing Wells (PDP Royalty Interest) entitles the trust to receive 80% of the proceeds from the sale of production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids attributable to SandRidge's net revenue interest in the Producing Wells. The royalty interest in the Development Wells the (Development Royalty Interest) entitles the trust to receive 70% of the proceeds from the sale of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids production attributable to SandRidge's net revenue interest in the Development Wells. As of March 31, 2011, after giving effect to the conveyance of the PDP Royalty Interest and the Development Royalty Interest to the trus, the total reserves estimated to be attributable to the trust were 21.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe). This amount includes 5.8 MMBoe attributable to the PDP Royalty Interest and 16.0 MMBoe attributable to the Development Royalty Interest. The reserves consist of 96% liquids (87% oil and 9% natural gas liquids) and 4% natural gas.

SandRidge is an independent oil and natural gas company concentrating on development and production activities related to the exploitation of its significant holdings! in West Texas and the Mid-Continent area of Oklahoma and Kansas. SandRidge operates all of the Producing Wells. SandRidge owns a majority working interest in substantially all of the locations, on which it focuses to drill the Development Wells, and focuses to operate such wells. SandRidge Exploration and Production, LLC (SandRidge E&P) is a wholly owned subsidiary of SandRidge.

The Underlying Properties are located in the greater Fuhrman-Mascho field area, a region in Andrews County, Texas that primarily produces oil from the Grayburg/San Andres formation within the Permian Basin. SandRidge operates three drilling rigs within the AMI and, as of March 31, 2011, had drilled 101 wells. Within the AMI, SandRidge operates 509 wells and has 888 proven undeveloped locations as of March 31, 2011. These 888 proven locations are a combination of 5-acre, 10-acre and 20-acre infill spacing locations. As of March 31, 2011, average daily production from the Underlying Properties was approximately 3,400 barrel of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d).

Permian Basin

The Permian Basin extends throughout southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico over an area approximately 250 miles wide and 300 miles long. It is an oil producing basin in the United States. As of December 31, 2010, SandRidge operated approximately 2,600 gross producing wells in the Permian Basin, with an average working interest of 94%. In March 2011, SandRidge's average daily net production in the Permian Basin was approximately 29,600 Boe/d. SandRidge was operating 16 rigs in the basin as of March 31, 2011. SandRidge drilled 484 wells in this area during the year ended December 31, 2010.

Fuhrman-Mascho Field

The Fuhrman-Mascho field is located near the center of the Central Basin Platform in the Permian Basin. The field produces from the Grayburg/San Andres formation from average depths of approximately 4,000 to 5,000 feet. The Fuhrman-Mascho field is a producing field in the Permian Basin and! it has p! roduced approximately 142 MMBoe as of December 31, 2010. During 2010, SandRidge operated eight drilling rigs in the area and has drilled 307 wells as of March 31, 2011.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  The problem here is that SandRidge has been�dependent�on asset sales and its running out of assets to sell. In addition to the Permian sale, SandRidge has now taken three royalty trusts public. One consisting of Permian Basin assets, SandRidge Permian Trust (NYSE: PER  ) and two consisting of Mississippian assets, SandRidge Mississippian Trust I (NYSE: SDT  ) and SandRidge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE: SDR  ) . While SandRidge still owns a portion of each trust, it likely will continue to sell off its ownership stake in each trust as well as other assets it still owns. At some point SandRidge will need to live within its oil and gas cash flows, otherwise, its not worth owning.�

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Buy For 2014: Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp (PEGFF.PK)

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (Pacific Rubiales) is a producerand seller of natural gas and heavy crude oil. The Company also purchases crude oil from third parties to be used as diluents and for trading purposes. The Company owns Meta Petroleum Corp. (Meta), an oil branch which operates the Rubiales/Piriri and Quifa oil fields in the Llanos Basin in association with Ecopetrol; and Pacific Stratus Energy Colombia Corp. (Pacific Stratus), which operates the wholly owned La Creciente gas field in the northern part of Colombia and other light and medium oil fields. In addition to its production assets, it has investment in oil pipelines in Colombia, including the Oleoducto de los Llanos S.A. Pipeline and the new Oleoducto Bicentenario de Colombia pipeline, under construction. In November 2013, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp acquired Petrominerales Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Value Digger]

  Apart from the momentum traders, the growth seekers have to check it out too. Manitok Energy is another growth company with a non-existent coverage from the online publications, although it has been growing by leaps and bounds during the last couple of years. I really enjoy uncovering such companies. In fact, by discovering under-followed growth companies with very attractive valuations is how I started my articles with SeekingAlpha one year ago. It was when I uncovered C&C Energia. I recommended this debt-free South American producer at ~$5.7 in August 2012. C&C Energia was bought out by Pacific Rubiales (PEGFF.PK) a couple of months later at $9.81. My article is here.

• [By Value Digger]

  C&C Energia was acquired by Pacific Rubiales (PEGFF.PK) for $9.5 (including the shares for Platino Energy), three months later. Nobody else had ever written an online article about C&C Energia.

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Buy For 2014: Awilco Drilling PLC (AWLCF)

Awilco Drilling PLC is a United Kingdom-based drilling contractor. The Company�� principal business is to own offshore drilling rigs for use in offshore drilling for oil and gas, and to provide drilling services for oil and gas companies using these rigs. The Company operates two semi-submersible drilling rigs: WilHunter, previously Arctic IV and WilPhoenix, previously Arctic II. As of December 31, 2011, the Company wholly owned five subsidiaries, namely WilPhoenix (UK) Ltd, WilHunter (UK) Ltd, WilPhoenix (Malta) Ltd, WilHunter (Malta) Ltd and the Singapore-based Awilco Drilling Pte Ltd. As of December 31, 2011, Awilco Drilling AS was the Company's largest shareholder and controlled 49% shares. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  We expect Caledonia to generate close to $600M in EBITDA. While RIGs mid-water OPEX has averaged about $125k/d we expect it to be lower at Caledonia. 2015 Consensus EBITDA for RIG is ~$3B which means 20% of RIGs 2015 EBITDA comes from the rigs that will become Caledonia. The problem (in a bear market) is that companies with lower end rigs trade at a discount ��just ask Awilco (AWLCF), Fred Olsen Energy, and Paragon Offshore (PGN) which trade at an average multiple of 3.3x on 2015 EBITDA versus RIG which trades at 6.3x.

Top 5 Oil Stocks To Buy For 2014: EXCO Resources NL(XCO)

EXCO Resources, Inc., an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the exploration, exploitation, development, and production of onshore North American oil and natural gas properties with a focus on shale resource plays. The company holds interests in various projects located in East Texas, North Louisiana, Appalachia, and the Permian Basin in west Texas. As of December 31, 2010, it had proved reserves of approximately 1.5 trillion cubic feet equivalent; and operated 7,276 wells. The company was founded in 1955 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  EXCO Resources (NYSE: XCO  ) has also seen meaningful improvements�in drilling days, reporting that it drilled its most recent wells in about 34 days, down from 45-60 days a few years ago. These and other efficiency gains helped the Dallas-based company reduce its well costs by about 20% from the end of 2011, with current costs in its core DeSoto area down to about $7.8 million-$8 million.