Best Oil Stocks For 2014

Best Oil Stocks For 2014: Linn Energy LLC (LINE)

Linn Energy, LLC (LINN Energy) is an independent oil and natural gas company. The Company's properties are located in the United States, primarily in the Mid-Continent, the Permian Basin, Michigan, California and the Williston Basin. Mid-Continent Deep includes the Texas Panhandle Deep Granite Wash formation and deep formations in Oklahoma and Kansas. Mid-Continent Shallow includes the Texas Panhandle Brown Dolomite formation and shallow formations in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Illinois. Permian Basin includes areas in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. Michigan includes the Antrim Shale formation in the northern part of the state. California includes the Brea Olinda Field of the Los Angeles Basin. Williston Basin includes the Bakken formation in North Dakota. On December 15, 2011, the Company acquired certain oil and natural gas properties located primarily in the Granite Wash of Texas and Oklahoma from Plains Exploration & Production Company (Plains).

On No vember 1, 2011, and November 18, 2011, it completed two acquisitions of certain oil and natural gas properties located in the Permian Basin. On June 1, 2011, it acquired certain oil and natural gas properties in the Cleveland play, located in the Texas Panhandle, from Panther Energy Company, LLC and Red Willow Mid-Continent, LLC (collectively Panther). On May 2, 2011, and May 11, 2011, it completed two acquisitions of certain oil and natural gas properties located in the Williston Basin. On April 1, 2011, and April 5, 2011, the Company completed two acquisitions of certain oil and natural gas properties located in the Permian Basin. On March 31, 2011, it acquired certain oil and natural gas properties located in the Williston Basin from an affiliate of Concho Resources Inc. (Concho). During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company completed other smaller acquisitions of oil and natural gas propert! ies located in its various operating regions. As of December 31, 2011, the Company operated 7,759 or 69% of its 11,230 gross productiv! e wells.

Mid-Continent Deep

The Mid-Continent Deep region includes properties in the Deep Granite Wash formation in the Texas Panhandle, which produces at depths ranging from 10,000 feet to 16,000 feet, as well as properties in Oklahoma and Kansas, which produce at depths of more than 8,000 feet. Mid-Continent Deep proved reserves represented approximately 47% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 49% were classified as proved developed reserves. The Company owns and operates a network of natural gas gathering systems consisting of approximately 285 miles of pipeline and associated compression and metering facilities that connect to numerous sales outlets in the Texas Panhandle.

Mid-Continent Shallow

The Mid-Continent Shallow region includes properties producing from the Brown Dolomite formation in the Texas Panhandle, which produces at depths of approximately 3,200 feet, as well as properties in Oklah oma, Louisiana and Illinois, which produce at depths of less than 8,000 feet. Mid-Continent Shallow proved reserves represented approximately 20% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 70% were classified as proved developed reserves. The Company owns and operates a network of natural gas gathering systems consisting of approximately 665 miles of pipeline and associated compression and metering facilities that connect to numerous sales outlets in the Texas Panhandle.

Permian Basin

The Permian Basin is an oil and natural gas basins in the United States. The Company's properties are located in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico and produce at depths ranging from 2,000 feet to 12,000 feet. Permian Basin proved reserves represented approximately 16% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 56% were classified as proved developed re! serves.

Michigan

The Michigan region includes propertie s producing from the Antrim Shale formation in the northern ! part of t! he state, which produces at depths ranging from 600 feet to 2,200 feet. Michigan proved reserves represented approximately 9% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 90% were classified as proved developed reserves.

California

The California region consists of the Brea Olinda Field of the Los Angeles Basin. California proved reserves represented approximately 6% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 93% were classified as proved developed reserves.

Williston Basin

The Williston Basin is one of the premier oil basins in the United States. The Company's properties are located in North Dakota and produce at depths ranging from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet. Williston Basin proved reserves represented approximately 2% of total proved reserves, as of December 31, 2011, of which 48% were classified as proved developed reserves.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Yesterday, Linn Energy (LINE) reported earnings and promptly fell 4.6%. After a day to consider the numbers, where does Linn Energy stand?

  Dan Strumpf/The Wall Street Jour

  Raymond James’ Kevin Smith thinks Linn Energy look’s OK despite yesterday’s disappointment:

  As the clouds start to clear in the wake of the [Linn Energy] / Berry merger, the partnership has evolved into a dynamic company with lots of options at its disposal. In addition to a best-in-class hedging program and a well-oiled acquisition machine, LINN Energy is now in possession of a large amount of horizontal Wolfcamp acreage and is evaluating a number of options to monetize this acreage. Given the stability in the distribution, the upside from the horizontal Wolfcamp acreage position, and the sheer breadth of growth outlets available to the partnership, we reiterate our Outperform! rating.

  UBS analyst Shneur Gershuni and team maintained their Buy rating but lowered their price target to $33 from $34. They explain:

  Combing through the updated guidance for 2014, the most surprising result was the surge in LOE, followed by lean distribution coverage in 2014 assuming no growth in distribution. The troubling implication of today's guidance is that either BRY is not as accretive as first thought or the legacy biz is declining faster than modelled. While guidance was clearly disappointing, the proved reserve update was encouraging in our opinion as [Linn Energy] was able to replace 123% of reserves with the drillbit (excluding acquisitions) at a cost of $2.21.

  Mgmt carefully laid out strategic options for its Midland Basin acreage by evaluating asset swaps or a JV (as a reminder [Linn Energy] has net acreage 55k in the Wolfcamp). Firstly we would prefer an asset swap into a longer lived slow decline reserve productive asset as it is presents an asset profile more consistent with how we think about Upstream MLPs. We are encouraged by mgnt strongly

• [By David Dittman]

  Question: Do you have any comments on Linn Energy LLC (NSDQ: LINE)?

  Answer: The merger with Berry Petroleum is complete, and now it’s on to executing plan to get production growing again. The SE’’s informal inquiry is still in process, and I won’t hazard a guess as to what if anything will come of it.

source from Top Stocks Blog:http://www.topstocksblog.com/best-oil-stocks-for-2014.html