Barclays' Favorite Oil Companies

From Barclays Capital's "Global Energy Outlook" report published on Aug. 11, 2011, the following exploration, production, integrated oil and refining companies are ranked overweight with a positive sector outlook. Barclays' energy experts are bullish on oil long-term and that could help out the equities of the following 10 undervalued names.



Chevron (CVX) is one of Barclays' favorite big oil overweights. Price target: $135. Upside potential: 45%.

Hess Corporation (HES) is trading under 7 times forward earnings. Barclays price target: $108. Upside potential: 93%.

Murphy Oil Corp (MUR) is mainly U.S. dependent. But Barclays likes them. Price target: $77. Upside potential: 49%.

Canada's Imperial Oil (IMO) has a price target of $57 with a potential upside of 44%, according to Barclays' estimates.

Sunoco (SUN) is a household name in the U.S. And the bain of the average America's existence when gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon. Barclays price target: $54. Upside potential: $74.

Tesoro (TSO) is a national refiner headquartered in Texas. Barclays price target: $38. Upside potential: 95%.

Headquarterted in the UK, Afren PLC (LON: AFR) drills for oil off the coast of Africa. Barclays price target: $200. Upside potential: 111%.

BowLeven (LON: BLVN) is another UK based oil and gas exploration and production company with most of its assets off coastal Africa. Barclays price target: $515. Upside potential: 312%.

Max Petroleum (LON: MXP) explores and produces oil in Kazakhstan. Is nice! Barclays price target: $45. Upside potential: 275%.

Premier Oil (LON: PMO) maintains oil and gas exploration and production ops in the North Sea and on land in Pakistan and the Middle East. Barclays price target: $631. Upside potential: 86%.

Posted courtesy of Forbes.Com

Phil Flynn: Freezer Frame

Has the coldest winter in a decade, as some experts predict, just begun? Can record cold really overcome record supply if refineries cut back production? Well it seemed a bit more plausible as winter worries helped an oil flurry on a light volume trading session. The cold weather fed into fears that refinery cut backs could cut into a massive oversupply situation when every trader turned on the heat. Throw in a weaker dollar and you have the perfect recipe for a holiday trade oil rally.

Barbara Powell at Bloomberg fed into traders concerns when she reported that, "Oil refiners from Valero Energy Corp. to Sunoco Inc. are cutting the most capacity since the early 1980.” The reason she says is that they fear that even, “the coldest U.S. winter in a decade won’t be enough to soak up a glut of fuel.” Powell said, "returns from processing crude into heating oil for delivery in February are the lowest in six years”.....read the entire article.

Stock Market Winners and Losers

Winners

Tesoro Petroleum 10.26%
Abraxas Petroleum 8.85%
Input/Output 8.29%
Syntroleum 6.98%
Sunoco 6.04%

Losers

Energy Partners -11.84%
RPC -8.94%
Allis-Chalmers Energy -8.73%
Parallel Petroleum -7.11%
Harvest Natural Resources -6.44%

Change based on the last 2 days of trading