Top Energy & Oil Stocks for 2010

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's that time of year where I pick my three top energy/oil stocks for 2010.

But, before I get into the new crop of selections, I'm going to take a rare victory lap on the three I recommended for 2009 -- Chevron(CVX), Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP)and Petro-Canada.

I recommended all three on Dec. 22, 2008 with Chevron trading at $69.39, Enbridge trading at $24.49 and Petro-Canada trading at $22.55. As of Monday, Chevron has shown a 11.7% gain for the year, but Enbridge has more than doubled (102%) since the recommendation, while delivering its juicy distribution and Petro-Canada also showed a doubling before July, when it was moved to the Toronto exchange and merged with Suncor energy -- a huge winner too. Past performance being no indication and blah, blah, blah -- but let's hope these three picks will be equally worth watching.

More Stock Picks: 5 Large Caps on the Move

I'll count down on my top three energy stocks, giving my top pick last. This rating process is practically arbitrary, because I believe almost equally in each. For No. 3, I've chosen a refining stock -- Valero(VLO).

The refining sector has experienced the worst combination of economic factors over the last year and the stock prices in that sector have reflected that.

Domestic demand for refined products have sunk to multi-year lows in the midst of a consumer recession.

Supply continues to expand particularly with distillate products. With the winter upon us, the distillate stockpiles have taken precedence over gasoline and their surfeit has further depressed refinery stock prices.