#1 Top Natural Gas Stock Pick 2012 - Natural Gas Stocks - Southwestern Energy (SWN) - Southwestern Energy (SWN) is a natural gas company focused on drilling shale formations in the United States.  SWN is currently trading at $38.60 and I feel the stock can rally up into the $50's at some point in 2012.  Southwestern Energy (SWN) is doing something a lot of natural gas companies have been doing over the past year, loading up on oil assets.  Southwestern Energy is now a major player in an emerging oil shale play called the Smackover/Brown Dense Shale.  SWN has acreage in the oil window in what they hope could be a large oil discovery in 2012.  While SWN is mostly a natural gas producer, they are rapidly increasing their oil exposure.

Southwestern Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas and crude oil in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Exploration and Production, and Midstream Services. The Exploration and Production segment involves in the development of an unconventional gas reservoir located on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin, as well as exploration and production activities in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma. This segment also conducts conventional drilling programs in the Arkoma Basin; and development drilling and exploration programs in the Oklahoma portion of the Arkoma Basin, as well as in Texas and Pennsylvania. In addition, it operates drilling rigs in the Fayetteville Shale play, as well as in other operating areas; and explores for natural gas and crude oil under 32 licenses in New Brunswick, Canada.