Industries – Oil & Gas: Second

Down one rung to second place isOleg Maximov’sthree-member Sberbank CIB crew. “Oleg strikes me as someone who digs deep into the industry and thinks about the long-term structural picture while keeping an eye on short-term drivers,” attests one happy client. The analysts publish research on 13 stocks, and the Moscow-based team leader says they are not overly positive on the group, noting that many of the companies are facing diminishing returns on capital, little or no growth in production and rising taxes. Private oil and gas outfits should fare better than their state-owned counterparts, he adds, and thus the team has buy recommendations on Russia-based refinery operator Bashneft and NovaTek, the country’s largest independent gas producer; and oil field services provider Eurasia Drilling Co., which is headquartered in Cyprus. —Katie Gilbert