Novak: Russian oil and gas sector grows despite US sanctions

Russia's oil and gas sector has grown despite sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said.

"Despite the sanctions that were imposed on a number of our companies, our oil and gas sector has managed not only to overcome the difficulties but even to demonstrate positive dynamics. In the past two years, Russia's oil output has gone up by 400,000 barrels," Novak told oil executives in Houston, Texas on March 6.

"The financial health of our companies is much, much better than of many foreign companies. They have a small debt load and have reduced the cost of producing an average barrel of oil in Russia to between $10 and $15,"  RFE/RL cited him as saying.

With oil fetching between $50 and $60 a barrel on world markets today, that means that profit margins in Russia are "among the world's highest," Novak said, telling the executives in the heart of America's oil country that "Russia is open" to investment and collaboration with US companies.

Novak also boasted that despite being the world's top oil producer, Russia still has so much oil and gas left in the ground that it could keep pumping for the next 50 years or longer.