OK, "Big Oil" may not be ruining your life, but that doesn't make the pain at the pump any less acute. And with the national average for regular gasoline almost $4 a gallon, and a barrel of crude oil perched around $115, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that oil and gas companies have the wind at their backs.

With that in mind, we'll use the aggregated intelligence of the 115,000-plus members participating in Motley Fool CAPS to find oil and gas stocks that the community likes -- those with four- and five-star ratings. The community's approval could be a sign that further research is in order.

Here are five such stocks:

Company

Primary Industry

% CAPS All-Star Bulls^

CAPS Rating
(out of 5)

CAPS Research

TransMontaigne (NYSE:TLP)

Oil & Gas Pipelines

100%

*****

TLP

Martin Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ:MMLP)

Independent Oil & Gas

100%

*****

MMLP

GulfMark Offshore (NYSE:GLF)

Oil & Gas Equipment & Services

97.8%

*****

GLF

Barnwell Industries (AMEX:BRN)

Independent Oil & Gas

100%

*****

BRN

Spectra Energy Partners LP (NYSE:SEP)

Oil & Gas Pipelines

96%

*****

SEP

Source: Motley Fool CAPS, as of Aug. 24, 2008.
^Percent of the All-Stars rating the stock who are bullish.

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