Russian energy firms again lead PFC list of best energy stocks

For the second consecutive year, publicly held Russian oil and gas companies led the PFC Energy 50 in annual share price performance, the Washington, D.C., strategic advisory firm says in its latest quarterly report. Shares in the following companies each rose at least 20% in 2002: Russia's Sibneft, Yukos, Gazprom and Lukoil; China's Sinopec and CNOOC, Italy's ENI, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Norway's Statoil. Calgary-based Encana almost made the cut, with its shares climbing 19.4%. It trades on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. Sibneft shares rose 206.9%, topping the list, followed by ONGC, which rose 161.6%. ExxonMobil ended 2002 with the largest market capitalization, US$235 billion. However, its share price fell 11.1%. It was followed by RD/Shell, whose shares fell 13.1%, and BP, whose shares declined 11.6%. -Leslie Haines