Best Energy Companies To Watch For 2014

F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg News WASHINGTON and NEW YORK -- Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron Corp. chief executive serving a 24-year prison term for the energy company's spectacular collapse, may get a chance to leave prison early. The U.S. Department of Justice has notified victims of Enron's fraud and 2001 bankruptcy that prosecutors may enter an agreement with Skilling that could result in a resentencing. Skilling, 59, has served about 6¼ years in prison following his May 2006 conviction by a Houston federal jury on 19 counts of securities fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors. It is unclear how much Skilling's sentence could be reduced, and a Justice Department official said no agreement has been reached. CNBC, the television business channel, said prosecutors and Skilling's lawyers have been negotiating a shorter term. Skilling had previously agreed to forfeit $45 million to be used as restitution for victims of Enron's fraud. That money has been held up because of the negotiations on a new sentence. "The department's goal is, and has always been, to ensure that Mr. Skilling be appropriately punished for his crimes, and that victims finally receive the restitution they deserve," another Justice Department official said. Skilling has maintained his innocence, and according to court filings has been pursuing a new trial. He is scheduled to leave prison around February 2028, assuming good behavior, according to federal prison records. Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Skilling, didn't respond on Thursday to a request for comment. A new sentence would have to be approved by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston, who had imposed the original sentence. Once ranked seventh on the Fortune 500 list of large U.S. companies, Enron went bankrupt on Dec. 2, 2001. Its demise led to reforms including the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. April 17 Deadline In its Wednesday notice, the Justice Department advised former Enron employees, stockholders and other victims that it is "considering entering into a sentencing agreement" with Skilling. The notice gives recipients until April 17 to voice objections. In 2009, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Skilling's conviction, but called his sentence too harsh. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court also upheld the conviction, but rejected one legal theory behind it. In 2011, the 5th Circuit reaffirmed the conviction. Skilling is being held at a low-security prison for men in Littleton, Colo. At the 2006 trial, the Houston jury also found Kenneth Lay, who was Enron's chief executive before and after Skilling's six-month term, guilty of fraud and conspiracy. Lay died in July 2006, and his death led to his conviction being thrown out. Among those who testified against Skilling and Lay was Andrew Fastow, who was Enron's chief financial officer and considered the mastermind behind the company's fraud. Fastow was sentenced to six years in prison and released in December 2011. The case is U.S. v. Skilling, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 04-cr-00025. . .hpgText .interiorPromo{display:none}

These days, it seems almost impossible for a major corporation to get away with a scandal without an onslaught of media coverage. But dig deep enough, and you'll find carefully buried skeletons in just about every corner office closet. Minyanville dug deep into the sordid pasts of some of the best known names in global capitalism and the skeletons just flew out.

Best Energy Companies To Watch For 2014: Helmerich & Payne Inc (HP)

Helmerich & Payne, Inc., incorporated on February 29, 1944, is engaged in contract drilling of oil and gases wells for others and this business. The Company's contract drilling business is composed of three reportable business segments: U.S. Land, Offshore and International Land. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012 (fiscal 2012), the Company's U.S. Land operations drilled in Oklahoma, California, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Utah, Arkansas, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia. Offshore operations were conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore of California, Trinidad and Equatorial Guinea. During fiscal 2012, the Company's International Land segment operated in six international locations: Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Tunisia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates. The Company is also engaged in the ownership, development and operation of commercial real estate and the research and development of rotary steerable technology. Each of the businesses operates independently of the others through wholly owned subsidiaries. The Company's real estate investments located exclusively within Tulsa, Oklahoma, include a shopping center containing approximately 441,000 leasable square feet, multi-tenant industrial warehouse properties containing approximately one million leasable square feet and approximately 210 acres of undeveloped real estate. The Company's subsidiary, TerraVici Drilling Solutions, Inc. (TerraVici), is developing rotary steerable technology. As of September 30, 2012, it had 176 rigs under fixed-term contracts. During fiscal 2012, the Company leased a 150,000 square foot industrial facility near Tulsa, Oklahoma for the purpose of overhauling/repairing rig equipment and associated component parts.

U.S. Land Drilling

As of September 30, 2012, the Company had 282 of its land rigs available for work in the United States. During fiscal 2012, the Company's U.S. Land operations contributed approximately 85% of the Compan! y's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was approximately 89%. During fiscal 2012, the Company's fleet of FlexRigs had an average utilization of approximately 97%, while the Company's conventional and mobile rigs had an average utilization of approximately 11%. As of September 31, 2012, 231 out of an available 282 land rigs were working.

Off Shore Drilling

During fiscal 2012, the Company's Offshore operations contributed approximately 6% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was approximately 79%. During fiscal 2012, the Company had eight of its nine offshore platform rigs under contract and continued to work under management contracts for four customer-owned rigs. During fiscal 2012, revenues from drilling services performed for the Company's offshore drilling customer totaled approximately 56% of offshore revenues.

International Land Drilling

During fiscal 2012, the Company's International Land operations contributed approximately 9% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, rig utilization was 77%. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had nine rigs in Argentina. During fiscal 2012, the Company's utilization rate was approximately 52%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Argentine drilling operations contributed approximately 2% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. The Argentine drilling contracts are with international or national oil companies. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had seven rigs in Colombia. During fiscal 2012, the Company's utilization rate was approximately 79%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Colombian drilling operations contributed approximately 3% of the Company's consolidated operating revenues. During fiscal 2012, revenues from drilling services performed for the Company's customer in Colombia totaled approximately 1% of consolidated operating revenues and approximately 16% of inter! national ! operating revenues. The Colombian drilling contracts are with international or national oil companies. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had five rigs in Ecuador. During fiscal 2012, the utilization rate in Ecuador was 97%. During fiscal 2012, revenues generated by Ecuadorian drilling operations contributed approximately 2% of consolidated operating revenues. As of September 30, 2012, the Company had two rigs in Tunisia, four rigs in Bahrain and two rigs in United Arab Emirates.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Relatively speaking, Helmerich & Payne's (NYSE: HP  ) new shareholder payout is a gusher. The company on Wednesday declared a big bump in its regular common stock dividend, to $0.50 per share for its Q3, up from $0.15.

Best Energy Companies To Watch For 2014: Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras(PBR)

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. primarily engages in oil and natural gas exploration and production, refining, trade, and transportation businesses. The company?s Exploration and Production segment involves in the exploration, production, development, and production of oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and natural gas in Brazil. This segment supplies its products to the refineries in Brazil, as well as sells surplus petroleum and byproducts in domestic and foreign markets. Its Supply segment engages in the refining, logistics, transportation, and trade of oil and oil products; export of ethanol; and extraction and processing of schist, as well as holds interests in companies of the petrochemical sector in Brazil. The Gas and Energy segment involves in the transportation and trade of natural gas produced in or imported into Brazil; transportation and trade of LNG; and generation and trade of electric power. In addition, the segment has interests in natural gas transportation and d istribution companies; and thermoelectric power stations in Brazil, as well engages in fertilizer business. The Distribution segment distributes oil products, ethanol, and compressed natural gas in Brazil. The International segment involves in the exploration and production of oil and gas, as well as in supplying, gas and energy, and distribution operations in the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Further, the company involves in biofuel production business. Petroleo Brasileiro was founded in 1953 and is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  Add pricing issues to long-suffering Petrobras (PBR) shareholders’ pile of worries. Shares of PBR stock are falling hard today, currently down 10% at press time.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  But over the past few years, the world's largest integrated oil companies have also joined the party. For instance, Brazilian oil major Petrobras (NYSE: PBR  ) is preparing to drill exploration wells offshore Tanzania, where it holds 50% stakes in two offshore exploratory blocks, while ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM  ) has turned its attention to exploratory prospects off the coast of South Africa, where it acquired a 75% stake in blocks owned by Impact Oil & Gas late last year.�

• [By Matt DiLallo]

  For perspective, estimates for Brazil's major offshore pre-salt reserves indicate the potential for 70-100 barrels of oil equivalent, or boe. The country's national oil company,�Petrobras� (NYSE: PBR  ) , is still in the early stages of developing those reserves; its current goal is to reach production of 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2016. However, the company is still in the process of collecting information and mapping the pre-salt region, a project that won't be complete until 2018. What that means is that this play has a long way to go until we know the full extent of the resource potential, but its already producing impressive results.�

• [By Tyler Crowe]

  Petrobras (NYSE: PBR  ) , Brazil's national oil company, is planning on spending $237 billion over the next seven years to double its oil output to about 5 million barrels per day. On a per-year basis, that much money is the same as one-third of what all U.S. exploration and production companies will spend combined. ��

Hot Medical Companies To Invest In 2014: PetroChina Company Limited(PTR)

PetroChina Company Limited produces and distributes oil and gas in the People?s Republic of China. It operates in four segments: Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline. The Exploration and Production segment explores, develops, produces, and markets crude oil and natural gas, oilsands, and coalbed methane. As of December 31, 2010, it had 11,278 million barrels of proved reserves of crude oil; and 65,503 billion cubic feet of proved reserves of natural gas. The Refining and Chemicals segment engages in the refining of crude oil and petroleum products; and production and marketing of petrochemical products, derivative petrochemical products, and other chemical products. This segment?s product line comprises processed crude oil, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, ethylene, synthetic resins, synthetic fiber materials, polymers, synthetic rubber, and urea. The Marketing segment involves in the marketing of refined products and tradi ng businesses. It operated 17,996 service stations. The Natural Gas and Pipeline segment engages in the transmission of natural gas, crude oil, and refined products; and the sale of natural gas. It had a total length of 56,840 kilometers (km) of oil and gas pipelines, including 32,801 km of natural gas pipelines, 14,782 km of crude oil pipelines, and 9,257 km of refined product pipelines. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China. PetroChina Company Limited is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  First up is Chinese oil and gas giant PetroChina (PTR). Saying PetroChina has seen a rough 2013 is an understatement. Year-to-date, shares of the $203 billion firm have slipped more than 22% at the same time that the S&P 500 has been in rally mode. But shareholders could be in store for a reprieve this winter thanks to a bullish setup that's been forming in shares of late.

  PetroChina is currently forming an ascending triangle bottom, a trading setup that's formed by a horizontal resistance level to the upside at $118 and uptrending support below shares. Basically, as PTR bounces between those two levels, it's getting squeezed closer and closer to a breakout above the $118 price ceiling. When that breakout happens, it's time to be a buyer.

  Whenever you're looking at any technical price pattern, it's critical to think in terms of those buyers and sellers. Triangles and other pattern names are a good quick way to explain what's going on in a stock, but they're not the reason it's tradable. Instead, it all comes down to supply and demand for shares.

  That $28 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a place where sellers had been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers were to buy. That's what makes this week's breakout above it so significant. The move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level.

  If you decide to take the Pandora trade, I'd recommend keeping a protective stop at the 50-day moving average.

Best Energy Companies To Watch For 2014: Renesola Ltd.(SOL)

ReneSola Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of solar wafers and solar power products. It offers virgin polysilicons, monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar wafers, and photovoltaic cells and modules. The company also provides cell and module processing services. Its products are used in a range of residential, commercial, industrial, and other solar power generation systems. The company sells its solar wafers primarily to solar cell and module manufacturers. It principally operates in Mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, and the United States. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Jiashan, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  On Thursday, ReneSola (NYSE: SOL  ) will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they'll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you'll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Best Energy Companies To Watch For 2014: Magellan Midstream Partners L.P.(MMP)

Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation, storage, and distribution of refined petroleum products and crude oil in the United States. Its pipeline system transports petroleum products and liquefied petroleum gases from the Gulf Coast refining region of Texas through the Midwest to Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. The company owns and operates marine terminals, which store and distribute refined petroleum products, blendstocks, crude oils, heavy oils, and feedstocks, as well as inland terminals that consist of storage tanks connected to third-party interstate pipeline systems to deliver refined petroleum products. Its ammonia pipeline system transports ammonia from production facilities in Texas and Oklahoma to terminals in the Midwest. The company also stores, blends, and distributes biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. As of March 31, 2011, it operated approximately 9, 600 miles of petr oleum products pipeline system and 51 terminals; 6 marine petroleum terminals located along the United States Gulf and East Coasts; a crude oil storage in Cushing, Oklahoma; 27 petroleum products inland terminals located principally in the southeastern United States; and a 1,100-mile ammonia pipeline system and 6 associated terminals. The company also provides ancillary services, such as heating, blending, and mixing of stored petroleum products and additive injection services. Its customers comprise independent and integrated oil companies, wholesalers, retailers, railroads, airlines, and regional farm co-operatives. The company serves various markets, including retail gasoline stations, truck stops, farm co-operatives, railroad fueling depots, and military and commercial jet fuel users. Magellan GP, LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Eric Volkman]

  More money will soon be gushing from Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP  ) in the form of shareholder payouts. The company has increased its quarterly distribution to $0.5325 per unit. This will be paid on August 14 to holders of record as of August 7. That amount is $0.025, or nearly 5%, higher than Magellan's preceding payout of $0.5075 per unit.

• [By Arjun Sreekumar]

  Contradicting claims
  For instance, some argue that the leak detection system proposed for Keystone XL is nothing special and is actually quite standard among most crude oil pipelines. In fact, as an excellent piece by InsideClimate News detailed, Keystone would not be equipped with some key safeguards that are prominent features of Magellan Midstream Partners' (NYSE: MMP  ) Longhorn pipeline, which was built more than a decade ago.

• [By Robert Rapier]

  The total market cap of the ANGI is $190 billion, and the one-, three- and five-year total returns are 29 percent, 52 percent and 249 percent. The index yield is 6 percent.

  The Alerian Large Cap MLP Index (ALCI)  is another subset of the AMZ. It’s an equal-weighted basket of the 15 largest energy MLPs by market capitalization, all of which are also in the AMZ. The top performer since the most recent quarterly rebalancing has been Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP), which comprises 7.4 percent of the index at present. At the bottom since the latest rebalancing is Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP), at 6.47 of the overall index.
  

  The total market cap of the ALCI is $232 billion, and the one-, three- and five-year total returns are 20 percent, 39 percent, and 167 percent. The index yield is 5.1 percent.

• [By Aaron Levitt]

  While most pipeline and midstream firms have been adding natural gas exposure to take advantage of rising production in the U.S., Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP) has taken a more ��ily��approach and focuses pretty much exclusively on crude oil assets. The MLP�� 9,600 miles worth of pipelines and 80 million barrels worth of storage represent the longest network of refined petroleum capacity products in the country.