David Smith

With cacophonous calls for far stronger sanctions against Russia, its hardly impossible that the country's deals with major oil companies could be scuttled.

Diamond Offshore's shares have fallen steadily in the past few years. Is it time to place a buy order on the depressed company?

With ExxonMobil and a couple of its peers having evacuated personnel from war-torn Iraq, there has been minimal attention to the dangers of a Saudi Arabian entry into its neighboring country's conflagration.

While E.I. DuPont, which is in the throes of restructuring, possesses some of the disarray of a house under major repair, it may be moving to a far brighter future than some anticipate.

EOG Resources clearly has chalked up more firsts than any other domestic producer. CEO Bill Thomas says that's unlikely to change anytime soon.

Freeport-McMoRan's CEO Richard Adkerson responded to many of the questions surrounding his company last week. But despite some lingering concerns, the company's future appears brighter than its recent past.

With the Mexican legislature having agreed to rescind Pemex's 75-year-old monopoly on oil and gas production in the country, you can bet that the likes of ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Anadarko Petroleum could be working south of the border before long.

With several reasons emerging to believe that natural gas prices could be headed higher, relatively balanced producers Anadarko Petroleum and Devon Energy are becoming attractive.

Despite a cooling relationship between Russia and the West, along with Vladimir Putin's admonition to foreign governments and the Western oil and gas companies at work in his country, ExxonMobil appears to hold a hot hand.

National Oilwell Varco management expects something of a temporary dip in new offshore rig orders. Nevertheless, the company's vital position in the world of energy capital equipment worldwide makes it well worth continued attention.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's earnings slipped for a variety of identifiable reasons during the most recent quarter. However, there are at least five reasons to anticipate a brighter future for the big mining -- and now oil and gas -- company.

One of the toughest aspects of investing in energy involves deciding which group(s) to favor. Many of the independent producers operating solely in the U.S. onshore have done extremely well during the country's current oil and gas boom.

General Electric is moving toward a spinoff of its consumer finance arm. But a more extensive restructuring may ultimately be required at the company. Either way, watch for share-price appreciation.

While we in the U.S. can easily adopt the impression that coal is rapidly on the way out, a more detailed look at its use in other countries tells another story. The real question, then, is the extent to which the carbon that results from its burning can be captured and stored underground for perhaps centuries to come.

Freeport-McMoRan has been hit by a plethora of woes. But none is as insurmountable as may appear. On that basis, the traditionally strong company probably merits a reexamination by Foolish investors.

TransCanada Corp. and others with a vested interest in the Keystone XL pipeline have been waiting sometimes not-so-patiently for a ruling by President Obama on the final stage of the line. Should that ruling be negative, China will be better off for it.

Russia's government and its giant state controlled oil company Rosneft are depending on ExxonMobil's technological expertise to benefit the country's offshore oil and gas production. Could Putin's antics set that aid aside?

Eastern European countries are requesting shipments of U.S. natural gas as a way of lessening their dependence on Russia and Gazprom. However, those requests aren't practical -- or really even possible -- for several reasons.

We have little way of knowing whether Vladimir Putin is thinking better of his incursion into Russia's neighbor, Ukraine. Nevertheless, it's wise to recognize the potential impact of his encroachment on the world's biggest publicly traded oil company.

Houston-based EOG Resources continues to achieve tremendous success from its operations in the Eagle Ford, the Bakken, and the Permian Basin. Now, with an impending stock split, are the company's shares more or less compelling than before?