Energy Winners: American Exploration

(Energy Winners article updated for Monday closing prices and volume)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Last month, when Exxon(XOM) acquired XTO Energy(XTO), the market went into immediate prediction-mode about the next major chess move among big energy producers.

That move was made on the first day of the new year, with Total S.A.(TOT) spending $800 million in cash and $1.45 billion in financing for a 25% stake in Chesapeake Energy's(CHK) U.S. shale gas assets.

The Total S.A.-Chesapeake Energy deal was not an outright acquisition on the scale of the Exxon-XTO deal, but it did make good on a recent TheStreet poll that indicated Chesapeake Energy would be the next oil and gas independent targeted by the global energy giants.

The Exxon-XTO deal led to a general run-up in energy stocks on the M&A fever theory. If the Exxon-XTO deal triggered the Total S.A.-Chesapeake joint venture, which energy targets are likely to attract the eye of the global energy giants next?

On the first trading day of the year, shares of two small oil and gas producers were being heavily traded. While American Exploration(AEXP) and Petrolympic(PCQ) might be too small to attract the attention of a Chevron(CVX), investors had taken note of these North American oil and gas producers on Monday.

American Exploration was up more than 30% at the close on Monday, with more than 618,000 shares traded -- versus an average daily trading volume of 7,000 shares. American Exploration shares were up 20 cents to 85 cents on Monday.