Energy

You and I both know it's coming ...

Back in the spring, I suggested that pint-sized
Frontier Oil (NYSE: FTO) was the

best bet among risky refiners. Later, commenting on
first-quarter results, I cautioned investors

not to get burnedby chasing then-hot shares. Two things
have since changed my last writing: The stock is down roughly
15%, and the company's swung to a third-quarter loss.

Last quarter, I was crooning that anything
Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) can do,

they can do better-- they being Devon's fellow
independent exploration and production outfits. I continue to
feel that way, and for what it's worth, so does Mr.
Market.

In late May, I decided it was time to

take noteof
Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM). Unlike
Venoco (NYSE: VQ) -- a

West Coast oil playerthat promptly rocketed higher
following my positive call -- Talisman's share price hasn't
moved much since I took a shine to the Canadian E&P. The
company's third-quarter report shows the business to be
coming along just fine.

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 140,000-plus
investors participating in

Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community,
private-sector coal king
Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) has earned a
respected

four-star ranking.

Anchorage, Alaska -- The Shell oil corporation said it will decide within months whether to begin drilling for oil and gas off the Alaskan coast despite strong opposition.

Elsewhere today, I looked at a new rig productivity index
that attempts to quantify how much more efficient our
domestic onshore exploration and production companies have
become.
Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) is one of the
prime examples of how these companies are

doing more with less.

A lot of natural gas industry observers, seeing the
combination of a dramatic drop in the rig count and resilient
monthly production data, have been left scratching their
heads. Isn't the rig count supposed to be a reliable
indicator of future production levels?

Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) on Tuesday became
the latest large U.S. oil company to report sour results for
the third quarter of 2009 when compared to a year earlier.
But the company continues to maintain a global portfolio of
promising exploration and production prospects that

deserves your attention.

As always,
Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) has given us
plenty to chew on this earnings season.