Move over Exxon, Russian drillers are world’s top performers

Better margins: An employee works at a section of multiple pipes at the oil and gas refinery operated by Naftna Industrija Srbije AD, a unit of OAO Gazprom Neft, in Pancevo, Serbia. Almost all of Russian oil companies with both production and refining had a pre-tax earnings margin that was higher than their peers in Europe in the second quarter.

LONDON: At a time when the collapse in crude prices pushes Russia’s economy into a recession, the nation’s oil producers are managing to beat their western counterparts.

On measures including cashflow, profit margins and share prices, OAO Rosneft, Lukoil PJSC– Russia’s two largest oil producers – and OAO Gazprom Neft are performing better than Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc or Exxon Mobil Corp.