ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips, a Houston, Texas based energy titan, is the second largest oil refiner in the United States. The company's concentration in the United States combined with its worldwide reach makes ConocoPhillips uniquely suited to profit in the coming years.

Yet ConocoPhillips' strengths are by no means a complete assurance of increasing profits. Competition from industry leader Exxon Mobil is unlikely to take the form that most observers are used to. None of the major oil producers has demonstrated any particular ability to influence the price of fuel by anything less drastic than accidentally destroying their facilities. As a consequence, in an environment of constantly increasing demand for energy, all of the major oil companies see their profits curtailed only by their inability to increase production. Unfortunately for the industry as a whole, however, political pressure to reduce gas prices has put most politicians in the position of aggressively opposing large profits for oil companies.

The current situation in the oil industry is one of practically guaranteed profits on a scale previously unimaginable. Unfortunately for American multinationals, there is a substantial risk that the winner of the 2008 Presidential election is going to endorse imposing a windfall profits tax on the industry that effectively destroys the profit potential of the industry.

ConocoPhillips is not the largest oil company in the world, but it is one of the largest. The company is particularly well placed to make substantial refining profits. While ConocoPhillips is perhaps not as favored as industry leader Exxon Mobil, stock symbol COP is a definite hold and a possible buy.