Unrest in the Middle East, particularly turmoil in Libya and Syria, has sent oil prices soaring to their highest levels in two years. While this is never good news for consumers, oil companies the world over stand to benefit greatly by this price spike. The sharp uptick in price is affecting both the Brent Crude, which is the pricing benchmark for much of the world, and the West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, which is widely used as the standard in the U.S.
In this video, Motley Fool energy analyst Taylor Muckerman sits down with host Alison Southwick, to discuss one company that he sees as well-positioned to take advantage of the spikes in both benchmarks, Marathon Oil (MRO 0.61%). Taylor tells investors about why this company is uniquely poised to benefit from a price increase to both the Brent and the WTI benchmarks, and also how it is taking big steps to limit its exposure to Libya.
Taylor also discusses why Marathon Oil stands to gain more from increases in oil prices than some of the biggest players, such as Exxon (XOM 0.39%) or BP (BP 0.98%), and tells investors why this could not only strengthen Marathon's ability to sustain its current dividend, but that it could also potentially translate into even higher dividends down the road.
