With earnings season upon us, here are the three oil stocks we're watching this week. Earnings season is in full swing, which means a lot of coffee and late nights for our energy analysts. This week is expected to be a big week in the energy patch, with several notable oil companies expected to report. Here are the three we'll be watching closest this week. Tyler Crowe: If you're watching companies in the energy sector, then it should almost be mandatory to see what ExxonMobil's (NYSE:XOM) earnings look like when it reports later this week. Obviously, earnings expectations are muted for the company since oil and gas prices are where they are, but knowing how ExxonMobil is handling the downturn is extremely important to know what might happen to other oil and gas producers out there. ExxonMobil is known for its much more conservative investment strategy. There is no better example of this than the price at which it plans its production growth. As the following chart shows, ExxonMobil uses a price point for Brent oil of $55 per barrel when making its capital allocation decisions, which is much more conservative than its peers. Company Price Assumption for Production Guidance (Brent) ExxonMobil $55 per barrel Chevron $70 per barrel BP $80 per barrel (projects "stress tested" for $60) Total $70 per barrel Source: Company analyst day presentations. So what I'll be watching in particular is if there is any chance that the company changes its production outlook for the next couple of years. If so, then it's entirely possible that ExxonMobil's management sees today's oil prices sticking around much longer. If it doesn't, then it may be worth checking in with its peers because their slightly higher price assumptions will help to give a rough guide... More