It takes quite a bit to shock a Russian oil company, especially one operating amid economic sanctions on top of a crude oil price slump. To date, big Russian oil can pretty safely say it’s ready for anything the government, forex rates or international oil markets can throw its way. The latest evidence of this is Rosneft’s and Lukoil’s first-quarter results and their upbeat attitude for the future. Lukoil was the first to report Q1 figures in June. Russia’s #2 booked a 59 percent drop in profits and a 32 percent fall in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. A different outcome from the first quarter of 2016 would have been extremely surprising, given that Brent fell below $30 in January, but even so, Lukoil’s figures beat the expectations of analysts polled by Bloomberg. At the same time, production rose, albeit modestly, to 214 million barrels […]