Cramer Likes XTO

"There are companies that can benefit from higher oil prices," Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday. "But they're not who you might think."
Cramer posed the question: "Why is it that while oil has risen from $100 to $130 a barrel, the large integrated oil companies have barely moved?"

While oil prices have jumped 30%, Cramer noted that shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) rose only 1%. BP (BP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) was up only 2.4% and Marathon Oil (MRO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) was up only 1.6%.

Cramer says big oil just cannot take advantage of the higher oil prices because they either just can't drill for enough oil, or they expected oil prices to retreat and hedged their bets. Some signed contracts with foreign governments that backfired.

That hasn't been the case, he emphasized, with oil stocks that have natural gas exposure.
Once again proclaiming 2008 the year of natural gas, he provided a laundry list of stocks which are now up an average of 33.8%.

They include XTO Energy (XTO - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Southwestern Energy (SWN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and El Paso (EP - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). Cramer owns all these stocks for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS.

He also recommended Ultra Petroleum (UPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Apache (APA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Anadarko (APC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and Chesapeake Energy (CHK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

Cramer said all of these companies share a common theme: They are constantly on the move, acquiring assets and drilling for more and more oil and natural gas.
Cramer noted that typically, the ratio between oil and gas is 6:1. Using that historic ratio, natural gas could go as high as $23, but Cramer is sticking to his earlier estimates of just $16 for the commodity.