** Capital One Securities says coming out of Q2 earnings season, top picks across the energy sector are Excelerate Energy EE.N, Diamondback Energy FANG.O, Ovintiv OVV.N and SLB SLB.N

** Key themes include tax benefits from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tariff impacts, rising gas demand from LNG projects and data centers, and improved sentiment on exploration and production (E&P) activity

** "We'll begin to see how much gas management teams are willing to lean in this coming January as initial budgets are released, but we think its safe to say there will be more gas-focused development in 2026" - brokerage

** Capital One expects E&P subsector to likely outperform the energy services subsector based on the current technical backdrop

** Brokerage anticipates a decline in U.S. oil output, albeit with a lag

** "While most public producers aim for a relatively flat production profile by maintaining baseline activity to offset natural well declines, the projected reduction is more likely to originate from private producers" - brokerage

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))