Oil driller stocks have long been a favorite of hedge funds (and Karen Finerman of "Fast Money") and something of a proxy for expected movements in oil prices. During the huge oil spike last year, the Oil Service HOLDRs (ETF) (NYSE: OIH) Oil Services ETF shot the moon. Buyers bid up issues of the underlying companies based on expectations that persistent oil prices in excess of $100 per barrel would make exploration and extraction of hard to reach deposits financially viable.

"We see smooth seas ahead for deepsea driller Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII)," says Richard Moroney.

The editor of the blue chip advisory, Dow Theory Forecasts, explains, "Most of the world's untapped oil reserves lie under the ocean floor, and oil producers are spending an increasing portion of their capital budgets on deepwater drilling."

"While oil prices don't directly affect Oceaneering International's profits and cash flows, they do move the stock. Oil prices fell by two-thirds in the second half of 2008, pushing Oceaneering shares under $20 for the first time since July 2005.

"Long term, supply remains the key issue to watch in the crude oil market; depressed prices continue to force producers to scale back on exploration and development spending," says energy expert Elliott Gue.

In The Energy Strategist, he says, "I watch oil service giant Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) as a gauge of overall health in energy markets; it has its hands in just about every imaginable oil- or gas-producing market on the planet."

"Schlumberger's fourth quarter earnings release and conference call were far and away the most bearish from the company in at least five years.

"CEO Andrew Gould was notably downbeat, particularly during the analysts' question and answer (Q&A) session. Predictably, earnings estimates have plummeted since that call.

"Valuations for even the best-placed, most well-established companies in the energy space are sitting at levels unseen since the late 1990s when oil prices collapsed to around $10 per barrel," says energy sector specialist Elliott Gue.

Here, the editor of The Energy Strategist looks at Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), noting, "The firm active in just about every imaginable market and I regard the company as a top-notch indicator of ongoing trends in the oil services business."

"It's clear that there's been some slowing in demand, and the credit crunch has had an impact on the fundamental business. But the reaction in the stock market over the past three months goes well beyond even a worst-case scenario.

"Bottom line: Many energy-related stocks are pricing in a severe recession and recent action in the broader markets is reminiscent of sentiment characteristically seen near market lows. The short-term outlook for the energy patch is much better now than it was during the bear market in 1998 and 2002.

"I regard Schlumberger as a top-notch indicator of ongoing trends in the oil services business and, more broadly, international oil and gas drilling activity. I always pay close attention to what Schlumberger has to say in its conference calls and, as usual, this quarter's call was instructive.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, is launching a new TV ad that puts the blame of $4.00 gasoline at the feet of Barack Obama. As reported by Breitbart.com the ad asks, "Gas prices-$4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?" The answer is Obama.

The fact is that while I doubt only Obama is to blame, the nominee, along with the power brokers in the Democratic party, have presented no solution to help ease pain at the pump. If the jump in crude oil is based on a a supply shortage, then the Republican solution of more drilling, both offshore and in Alaska makes sense.

Obama has rejected this, but has put forward no tangible solution. On the one hand, he agrees that the U.S. needs to be energy independent, but on the other hand, offers no serious way of getting to independence. Wind power and other non-nuclear alternatives don't have the scale to power an entire nation. Just an aside, but isn't it odd that when talking about 'alternative energy,' nuclear is never mentioned, though in other parts of the world like Europe it produces a sizable amount of energy.

As for environmental concerns, oil is now brought out of the ground with cutting edge technology, so worries of huge oil spills isn't all that realistic.

Consumers should stop being held hostage by election year politics, and for the good of the nation, Obama should cross party lines and agree to increased drilling.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 7/21/08.

One of the most controversial proposals for dropping the price of oil is to allow drilling in protected parklands and in restricted off-shore areas. Since there are deposits of crude and gas in these areas, it is also one of the more sure-fire ways of adding to production.

It now appears that the waters off Florida are among the most promising. According to the AP, "The early activity here stems from a 2006 Congressional compromise that allows drilling on 8.3 million acres more than 125 miles off the Panhandle."

The promise of the Florida coast is both good news and bad, depending which side of the debate one is on. A find of any real significance is likely to be proof of the fact that opening protected lands will yield results.

For the "green" crown, it could mean the the government will be encouraged to drill of near protected beaches. There may even be wells in Yellowstone.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

It's time to start drilling for oil and natural gas offshore on the east and west coasts. We are wasting our time and our money, and risking our future by not doing so. The energy needs of the United States have made oil our number one import and the biggest factor in our imbalance of trade.

It is not just that oil holds us hostage to the rest of the world. This imbalance of trade means we cannot support ourselves and must borrow from others to get by, and I, for one, have a very hard time with that notion. I prefer independence -- remember that? I think it was an important concept in our founding, way back when.

The imbalance in trade is a mortgage against the future of our children and it is getting worse year after year. The money often goes to foreign governments whose interests are not aligned with ours and they hold us politically and economically captive. Nothing is more shameful than President Bush pleading with Saudi Monarchs to pump more oil.

"One of my favorite indicators for the energy markets is the quarterly conference calls and earnings releases from Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB)," says energy sector expert Elliott Gue.

In his The Energy Strategist, he explains, "In this quarter's call, Schlumberger's management team was notably upbeat, the most positive on industry growth expectations in more than a year. This is a key shift in sentiment that has broader implications for the energy patch at large."

"Schlumberger's reports and conference calls have proved extraordinarily useful in the past for determining the most profitable trends and investment themes. The reason for that is simple: Schlumberger is the largest oilfield services company and has its hand in just about every imaginable market all over the world.

"In addition, the company has traditionally offered long, detailed conference calls; CEO Andrew Gould often relates far more than the outlook for Schlumberger and offers considerable color and detail concerning trends for the industry in general.

"This quarter's conference call was no exception. Schlumberger's outlook this quarter was far more upbeat than in its third and fourth quarter 2007 earnings calls.

The company said its quarterly profit jumped to $1.19 billion boosted by soaring crude oil prices. The offshore drilling contractor also benefited from strong sales from its acquired competitor GlobalSantaFe Corp. Going into today's earnings announcement, analysts had been expecting the company to post a profit of $3.33 a share, but Transocean surprised everyone by earning $3.80 a share during the quarter. This is a nice rebound from the same period last year when the the world's largest offshore oil driller reported earnings of $2.62 a share.

Looking at revenue, Transocean said its quarterly sales sales more than doubled to $3.11 billion, compared with $1.33 billion in the same period a year ago, helped by strong sales from GlobalSantaFe. Analysts, on average, were expecting the company show $3.05 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite speculative choice for 2008 is InterOil Corp. (Toronto: IOL)," says Yola Edwards, editor of the technically oriented Yola Edward's Charts.

"InterOil's assets consist of petroleum licenses covering about 9 million acres, an oil refinery, and retail and commercial distribution facilities in Papua New Guinea. During 2006, the company announced a gas and condensate discovery, and doubled the downstream business by acquiring Shell's distribution assets in Papua New Guinea.

"The company announced a net loss of $17.9 million, or 60 cents per share (diluted), for the third quarter of 2007, compared with $7.3 million net loss or 25 cents per share (diluted) in the third quarter of 2006.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) is poised to be the first independent operator to produce oil on the North Slope, an area dominated by the major producers such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), though other independents such as Andarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) may not be far behind.

Ten-year-old Pioneer, based in Irvine, Texas, plans to begin drilling in a few weeks off the coast of Oooguruk Island, Alaska, in a field expected to yield as much as 90 million barrels of oil. Pioneer expects to begin producing oil from there in the first half of next year.

Pioneer's efforts are being closely watched to see whether independents can establish themselves on the North Slope. "Ours is a bellwether project," says Chief Operating Officer Tim Dove. "If we do well, make the project work in reasonable time and in a fiscally responsible manner, it could open up some avenues for us and other independents."

Pioneer also announced the start-up of its South Coast Gas (SCG) project, expected to produce approximately 50 million cubic feet of natural gas per day by the end of the year. Scott Sheffield, Pioneer's Chairman and CEO, says, "With the completion of SCG and considering that a majority of the capital costs related to our Oooguruk development on the North Slope will be invested by the end of 2007, we expect our 2008 drilling and development budget to decrease significantly as compared to 2007."

The share price has been rising since reaching a 52-week low of $35.51 in August after Pioneer's second quarter report. The share price at close on Friday was $46.02. Pioneer will report on its third quarter on November 6.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) is one of the country's largest oil and natural gas companies in the U.S., headquartered in, you guessed it, Texas. The company's most recent earnings report, for 2Q 2007, is a challenging read. Some numbers are up, some are down. Overall, the numbers are headed in the right direction so that CEO Mark Papa has raised FY guidance for total growth, all of it organic and none by acquisition, from 10% to 11.5%. This is great news considering how challenging 2007 has been for EOG Resources compared to 2006.

1Q 2007 net income dropped by 50% to $216.8 million from 1Q 2006, despite the fact that 1Q 2007 natural gas production increased by 21%. 2Q 2007 net income improved to $306.1 million from 1Q 2007 net income, but was still less than 2Q 2006 net income of $329.6 million. EOG Resources lost a lot of ground with its financial commodity contracts in 2Q 2007. These contracts amounted to $18.6 million for the quarter, compared to $47.3 million in the previous quarter, which was itself hit with a $40 million drop in prices for natural gas. EOG is divesting itself of some of its assets, including its shallow gas holdings in Appalachia, in order to focus on shale gas opportunities that have the potential for greater production, and hence greater return on investment.

Despite price decreases, EOG Resources continues to increase natural gas production quarter over quarter. Total North American natural gas production for the first half of 2007 is up 7% from the same period a year ago. EOG has had significant capital expenditures for a new natural gas processing facility in east Texas, a facility necessitated by increases in natural gas production to compensate for price declines. EOG Resources continues to invest in technology that increases initial natural gas production rates and increases the efficiency of the recovery process so that more natural gas can be produced without the expense of digging additional wells.

The stock has been up and down since opening the year at $60.66. In mid June the stock was trading up 30% at just over $80 per share. Since then the stock has lost ground, closing Friday at $71.58, but is still up about 15% for the year.