Marathon Oil Corporation’s MRO subsidiary, Marathon Oil Permian LLC recently inked a long-term deal to receive midstream services from the Dallas, TX-based private company, Lucid Energy Group. Marathon Oil’s operations in southeast New Mexico are expected to be largely benefited as a result of the gas gathering and processing agreement.Permian SupportThrough the deal, Marathon Oil’s entire operated acreage in Lea County and a section of its operations in Eddy County, NM — which are part of the larger Permian Basin — are entitled to Lucid Energy’s services. The move is expected to support the company’s growing output from these regions, primarily located in the Delaware Basin. Also, Lucid Energy will likely expand its gathering and compression infrastructure network at the site for catering to Marathon Oil’s production growth.The deal could prove to be a major competitive advantage for Marathon Oil at a time when other producers are struggling with Permian takeaway capacity bottlenecks. Notably, in the second quarter, the company’s production from its Northern Delaware assets averaged 17,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 6% sequentially.Lucid Energy also has plans to put into service its cryogenic processing plant in October, at its natural gas processing complex of Red Hills, located in Lea County. The facility has a processing capacity of 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (MMcf/d). The new plant will also support Marathon Oil’s growing operations in the region. Notably, the new facility will increase Lucid Energy’s total processing capacity to 750 MMcf/d in the region.Price PerformanceMarathon Oil has gained 72.8% in the past year compared with 38.9% collective growth of its industry. Zacks Rank and Stocks to ConsiderHouston, TX-based Marathon Oil currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors interested in the energy sector can opt for other top-ranked stocks like McDermott International, Inc. MDR, Subsea 7 S.A. SUBCY and Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. HLX, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Houston, TX-based McDermott is an equipment provider for energy companies. The company’s top line for 2018 is likely to improve 145% year over year. In the last four reported quarters, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 101.7%.Luxembourg-based Subsea is an oilfield service providing company. In the last four reported quarters, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 318.6%.Houston, TX-based Helix Energy’s bottom line surpassed the consensus mark in three of the last four quarters, with the average positive earnings surprise being 66.7%.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report McDermott International, Inc. (MDR): Free Stock Analysis Report Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (HLX): Free Stock Analysis Report Subsea 7 SA (SUBCY): Free Stock Analysis Report Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research