Brigham Exploration Company (BEXP) announced results for one of its wells in the Bakken Shale today, prompting a 7% gain in its share price and securing a spot on the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List.

< ?DART(15);?> In addition to this company-specific news, BEXP is also getting a hand from an improving outlook for oil stocks as oil prices have finally broken out of its trading range.

Brigham Exploration is an independent exploration, development and production company that utilizes advanced exploration, drilling and completion technologies to systematically explore for, develop and produce domestic onshore oil and natural gas reserves.

It's 1 of 3 companies from the Oil-U.S. Exploration & Production industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List, which includes 215 stocks in total. The other 2 names are Linn Energy, LLC (LINE) and Plains Exploration & Production Company (PXP).

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Of all the people you might expect to spearhead a movement away from oil and onto alternative energy, T. Boone Pickens probably wouldn’t be at the top of the list.

But a year ago, the 81-year old chairman of BP Capital spent his own money to buy prime time on major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Earlier this month, Pickens appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to discuss the progress of the “Pickens Plan,”which essentially seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil through a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. The goal: Drastically reducing or eliminating the need for foreign oil in as little as 10 years.

His timing was perfect, as oil prices shot to all-time highs around $150 a year ago. The plan garnered a lot of attention. And to

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Earlier this week, T. Boone Pickens, the 81-year-old Chairman of BP Capital, appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the progress of the “Picken’s Plan.”

Readers might remember it was during the heat of the Presidential campaign last summer, on July 8, that Pickens began his own campaign to wean the nation off of foreign oil.

Spending his own money, he bought time on the major networks and mobilized an “army” of believers in order to get the word out about the dangers of continued dependence on foreign oil.

Essentially, the Pickens Plan seeks to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil with a combination of wind-generated power and natural gas powered vehicles. In the process, the need for foreign oil is drastically reduced or eliminated in as little as 10 years.

His timing - with oil prices hovering around $150 a barrel - got him a lot of attention.

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