OAO Lukoil, Russia's largest non- state oil producer, said profit advanced 8.4 percent in the second quarter as rising crude prices outpaced export taxes, reported Bloomberg.

Net income rose to a record $2.52 billion from $2.32 billion a year earlier, Moscow-based Lukoil said in an e-mailed statement today. That exceeded the median estimate of $2.45 billion from 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Earnings per share climbed to $3.03 from $2.80.

``Lukoil has the best disclosure and the least risk of negative surprises,'' Igor Kurinny, oil and gas analyst at ING Bank in London, said today. ``If you're bullish on oil prices, Lukoil is probably the best Russian stock to own.''

Oil producers in Russia benefit when crude prices rise because the government adjusts export duties with a time lag. The price of Urals, the country's benchmark export blend, averaged about $65.30 a barrel in the second quarter, about 1 percent higher than a year earlier and 20 percent more than in the first three months of the year.

Lukoil said second-quarter sales climbed 9.9 percent to $20.2 billion, based on U.S. accounting principles.

Transportation costs increased 33 percent to $1.15 billion, while export taxes rose 4 percent to $3.4 billion. The company exported 5.8 percent less oil in the period from a year earlier as it increased gasoline production at home to meet surging domestic demand.

Production of oil and natural gas available for sale increased 1.4 percent to 2.18 million barrels a day in the period from a year earlier.