Summary Box: Lukoil’s 2Q profit drops 16 percent to $1.9 billion on higher export duties

Summary Box: Lukoil’s 2Q profit drops 16 pct

RESULTS: Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, reported a 16 percent drop in second-quarter profit to $1.9 billion due to a rise in export duties and cost inflation. Higher oil prices lifted sales to $25.8 billion from $20.1 billion a year earlier.

PRODUCTION: Total oil and gas output advanced 2 percent. Analysts say that growth was driven by an advance in Lukoil’s gas projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

COMING UP: U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips announced in July that it is planning to sell its 20 percent stake in the Russian oil producer. Investors also are watching the potential introduction of a preferential tax regime for oil produced at Lukoil’s fields in the Caspian Sea, which would likely drive up the company stock.