5 Best Oil Stocks For 2014

Since mid-February, natural gas prices have risen by a whopping 30%, accelerating a trend of generally rising prices that began after April of last year. �

While much of this recent surge in prices reflects stronger-than-expected seasonal demand for gas, there's one huge reason prices could rise significantly over the longer term -- perhaps even triple over the next five years. Let's take a closer look.

U.S. natural gas market conditions
The recent increase in gas prices marks a departure from the weak pricing environment that has persisted over much of the past few years. As advances in drilling technologies allowed energy producers to coax massive quantities of natural gas from shale fields, an oversupply steadily built up, contributing to severely depressed prices for the fuel.

In response, virtually every major U.S. energy producer curtailed gas drilling in favor of producing oil and, to a lesser degree, natural gas liquids. For instance, Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK  ) , the nation's second-largest natural gas producer, reduced its gas-directed rig count from over 100 rigs in early 2010 to around 10 by the third quarter of last year. Similarly, EXCO Resources (NYSE: XCO  ) slashed its gas rig count from 23 as of year-end 2011 to 7 as of the end of October last year.

Top Restaurant Stocks To Buy For 2015: NK Lukoil OAO (LKOH)

NK Lukoil OAO (Neftyanaya Kompaniya LUKOIL OAO or NK LUKOIL OJSC) is a Russia-based integrated oil and gas company. The Company is engaged in the business of oil exploration, production, refining, marketing and distribution. It is an owner of refineries, gas processing, petrochemical plants and gas stations network located in Russia, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Africa. The Company�� petroleum products are sold in the Russian Federation, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and the United States. NK Lukoil OAO operates through numerous subsidiaries and affiliated companies. In April 2013, the Company acquired a 100% of Samara-Nafta ZAO and completed acquisition of CJSC Kama-Oil. In June 2013, it sold a 99.57% stake in Lukoil Odes'kyi NPZ PAT. The Company�� major shareholder is NKO ZAO NRD with a stake of 91.60%. In December 2013, it consolidated a 100% stake in ISAB Srl. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Julia Leite]

  Brazil�� Ibovespa (IBOV) fell to a six-week low, while the real slid to its weakest level in four years, spurring central bank intervention. Housing Development Finance Corp. drove India�� S&P BSE Sensex down, while the rupee completed its worst month in a year. OAO Lukoil (LKOH), Russia�� second-largest oil producer, slipped 2.3 percent as crude slumped.

• [By Rajhkumar K Shaaw]

  Russian stocks rose as oil, the nation�� main export earner, climbed. OAO Lukoil (LKOH) gained for the first time this week. Benchmark gauges in Hungary and Turkey also advanced. Tofas Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi AS, the Turkish carmaker part-owned by Fiat SpA, climbed for a second day on bets plans to roll out a new vehicle will boost revenue from exports.

5 Best Oil Stocks For 2014: GasLog Ltd (GLOG)

GasLog Ltd. (GasLog), incorporated on July 16, 2003, is an owner, operator and manager of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. The Company is a holding company. Its subsidiaries conduct all of its operations and own all of its operating assets, including its ships. The Company operates in two segments: vessel ownership and vessel management. In the vessel ownership segment, the services provided primarily consist of chartering out company-owned LNG carriers, and in the vessel management segment the services provided consist of LNG carrier technical management services, as well as LNG carrier construction supervision services and other vessel management services provided to the Company�� vessel ownership segment and to external third parties.

In February 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two vessel-owning companies, GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. In March 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two vessel-owning companies, GAS-seven Ltd. and GAS-eight Ltd. In June 2011, GasLog Carriers Ltd. established two additional vessel-owning companies, GAS-nine Ltd. and GAS-ten Ltd. In June 2011, Ceres Shipping Ltd. (Ceres Shipping) transferred its interest in GasLog Ltd. to Blenheim Holdings Ltd. (Blenheim Holdings). In June 2011, an entity jointly owned by the Livanos and Radziwill families (Joint Venture Partner) sold its 49% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. to Ceres Shipping. Ceres Shipping contributed the 49% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. to Blenheim Holdings, who in turn contributed the 49% interest in these four vessel-owning companies to GasLog Ltd., which contributed the same to GasLog Carriers Ltd. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 100% interest in GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GAS-five Ltd. and GAS-six Ltd. On July 11, 2011 and September 5, 2011, the Company transferred its interest of two dormant subsidiaries, GasLog Holdings Limited and GasLog Services Limited, respectively, to Ceres Shi! pping.

As of December 31, 2011, the Company�� owned fleet consisted of 10 wholly owned LNG carriers. As of December 31, 2011, the Company managed and operated 14 LNG carriers, which included its owned ships, as well as 11 ships owned or leased by BG Group plc (BG Group), a participant in the worldwide energy and natural gas markets, and one additional LNG carrier in which it had a 25% interest. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned a 25% interest in Egypt LNG Shipping Ltd. (Egypt LNG), whose principal asset is the LNG carrier Methane Nile Eagle. The Company�� owned fleet includes the GasLog Savannah, the GasLog Singapore, four LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (Samsung Heavy Industries) in South Korea, two LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, and two LNG carriers on order at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea.

The Company�� wholly owned subsidiary, GasLog LNG Services Ltd., (GasLog LNG Services) handles the technical management of its fleet. Through GasLog LNG Services, it provides technical ship management services for 12 LNG carriers owned by third parties in addition to management of the two LNG carriers operating in its owned fleet. The Company provides the services of its owned ships under time charters. The Company�� subsidiaries include GasLog Investments Ltd., GasLog Monaco S.A.M., Ceres LNG Employee Incentive Scheme Ltd., GasLog Carriers Ltd., GAS-one Ltd., GAS-two Ltd., GAS-three Ltd., GAS-four Ltd., GasLog Shipping Company Ltd., GasLog Shipping Limited and Egypt LNG Shipping Ltd.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier]

  Last month saw two new master limited partnerships (MLPs) go public.�GasLog Partners�(NYSE: GLOP) is an offshoot of�GasLog�(NYSE: GLOG), which is an owner, operator and manager of liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. GasLog (GLOG) owns the 2 percent general partner interest, all incentive distribution rights and a 49.8 percent limited partner interest in GLOP.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  GasLog (NYSE: GLOG) owns 15 LNG carriers, with eight ships on the water and seven more to be delivered by 2016. The company is one that we have liked and recommended, and it performed well in 2013, up 33 percent for the year. It has long been thought that the company might drop down assets into an MLP, but last week’s news that this will indeed be the case helped propel the stock up nearly 20 percent for the week.

5 Best Oil Stocks For 2014: Denbury Resources Inc (DNR)

Denbury Resources Inc., incorporated in 1951, is an independent oil and natural gas company. As of December 31, 2011, the Company had 461.9 million barrel of oil equivalent of proved oil and natural gas reserves, of which 77% was oil. The Company�� oil and natural gas properties are concentrated in the Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain regions in the United States. As of December 31, 2011, the Company's properties with proved and producing reserves in the Gulf Coast region were situated in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, and in the Rocky Mountain region were primarily situated in Montana, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. In April 2012, it sold certain non-operated assets in the Greater Aneth Field in the Paradox Basin of Utah to Resolute Energy Corporation and the Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Company. In December 2012, the Company closed its first phase of its previously announced Bakken sale and asset exchange with Exxon Mobil Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. In March 2013, it announced the closing of acquisition of producing property interests in the Cedar Creek Anticline (CCA) of Montana and North Dakota.

The Company�� CO2 source, Jackson Dome is located near Jackson, Mississipp. In addition to the proved reserves, it has an additional 2.5 trillion cubic feet of probable CO2 reserves at Jackson Dome. As of December 31, 2011, there have been 13 structures drilled within the Jackson Dome area and only one has not been productive. In addition to using CO2 for the Company�� Gulf Coast tertiary operations, it sells CO2 to third-party industrial users under long-term contracts and has three CO2 volumetric production payment contracts (VPPs). Approximately 91% of its average daily CO2 production during the year ended December 31, 2011 was used in its tertiary recovery operations on its own behalf and on behalf of other working interest owners in recovery fields, with the balance delivered to third-party industrial users. During 2011, the Company sold an av! erage of 89 million cubic feet per day of CO2 to commercial users, and the Company used an average of 920 million cubic feet per day for its tertiary activities.

In Eastern Mississippi properties, the Company has four tertiary operations (Soso, Martinville, Eucutta and Heidelberg Fields). The majority of the conventional oil production at Heidelberg is from waterflood units that produce from the Eutaw formation (at approximately 4,400 feet). The Company has converted all of the waterflood units in West Heidelberg to CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR). As of December 31, 2011, the Company either owned, or controlled through long-term financing leases, approximately 864 miles of CO2 pipelines in the Gulf Coast region. In addition to the NEJD CO2pipeline, the major pipelines are the Free State Pipeline (90 miles), the Delta Pipeline (110 miles) and the Green Pipeline (325 miles).

The Company�� primary Rocky Mountain CO2 source, Riley Ridge is located in southwestern Wyoming. The gas composition from Riley Ridge is approximately 65% CO2, 19% natural gas, 5% hydrogen sulfide (H2S), 0.6% helium, and the remainder other gases. As of December 31, 2011, its interest in Riley Ridge and minor surrounding acreage contained net proved reserves of 415 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of CO2 reserves. Bell Creek Field is located in southeast Montana. Cedar Creek Anticline (CCA) is primarily located in Montana. CCA is a series of 10 producing oil units. During 2011, the Company fracture stimulated 31 operated wells in the Bakken and four wells in the Selma Chalk utilizing water-based fluids.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By David Smith]

  Early in the quarter Conoco announced the sale of its Cedar Creek Anticline properties to Denbury Resources (NYSE: DNR  ) for slightly more than $1 billion. The smaller company is likely to make more of those assets, given its success in and predilection for enhanced oil recovery.

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  Small steps
  NRG Energy isn't the only company seeking to use captured carbon to clean up coal and fuel oil production. Denbury Resources (NYSE: DNR  ) is building its business completely around the enhanced oil recovery process. So far the company has produced over a hundred million barrels of oil through carbon flooding. However, it is investing to build out the necessary carbon dioxide transportation infrastructure to revive even more nearly dead oil fields.

• [By Matthew DiLallo]

  Planting trees is just the start. Another example of how Apache is lowering emissions is found at its Midale field in Saskatchewan, Canada. Apache is using carbon dioxide captured from a local coal-fired power plant and utilizing it to produce oil. The carbon dioxide is then sequestered in the field. It's a process that's increasingly being applied by fellow oil company Denbury Resources (NYSE: DNR  ) .

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Denbury Resources (DNR) shares dropped 5.9% after oil-and-natural-gas explorer on Sunday announced that it will initiate quarterly dividend and raised its share repurchase plan to $250 million from the $109 million remaining in its program.

5 Best Oil Stocks For 2014: Pembina Pipeline Corp (PBA)

Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina) is a Calgary-based company, engaged in providing transportation and midstream services. It owns and operates: pipelines that transport conventional and synthetic crude oil and natural gas liquids produced in western Canada; oil sands, heavy oil and diluent pipelines; gas gathering and processing facilities; and, an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. It has facilities located in western Canada and in natural gas liquids markets in eastern Canada and the United States. Pembina also offers a spectrum of midstream and marketing services. Pembina�� Midstream business is organized into two segments: crude oil and NGL. The crude oil segment represents the Company�� midstream operations. The NGL segment includes two operating systems: Redwater West and Empress East. Pembina's Conventional Pipelines business consists of a pipeline network, located 7,850 kilometers, that extends across much of Alberta and British Columbia. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Midstream operator Pembina Pipeline (NYSE: PBA  ) announced yesterday its monthly dividend for July, of $0.135 per share, which is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's dividends are considered "qualified dividends," subject to Canada's withholding tax.

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Midstream operator�Pembina Pipeline� (NYSE: PBA  ) �announced yesterday its monthly dividend for May of $0.135 per share,�which is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes. For non-resident shareholders, Pembina's dividends are considered "qualified dividends" and are subject to Canadian withholding tax.

• [By Vanin Aegea]

  Two companies that have been around for some time now are Imperial Oil (IMO) and Pembina Pipeline (PBA). Political instability in the Middle East has also given an extra relevance to the reserves found at this region, so let us see what the future holds and what gurus think of them.