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Later today, the 538 members of the Electoral College will meet to determine who will be the next President of the US.

The leading Russian oil company, Rosneft, is currently under investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office on the Russian island of Sakhalin for a large oil spill which occurred last week.

Shell has become the latest western company to cease its activities in Russia due to sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine. The oil giant has suspended its operations with its joint venture partner Gazprom Neft to frack Russian shale oil.

For the oil industry business comes first. After years of preparation, on Saturday Exxon began drilling a $700 million well in the Kara Sea in Russia's Arctic. It is Russia’s most northerly well.

Ignoring the potential threat of further sanctions, both Exxon and BP have strengthened ties with Russia’s state-controlled oil company, Rosneft, in deals that can also only be seen as bad news for the climate.

The oil industry always maintains that politics is a job for somebody else – it just gets on with drilling for oil and gas. The line is a fallacy of course, as the industry uses its economic might to prop up politicians that give it favourable tax breaks or subsidies or push its climate destructive policies.

In the diplomatic fallout from the crisis in Crimea, European leaders are said to be scrambling to reduce their dependence on Russian gas. You cannot negotiate with Putin if he holds all the aces.

Sanctions that would make it impossible for Exxon to do business with Russian oil companies such as Rosneft would leave Putin's Arctic dream in tatters. But they would also undermine Exxon's dreams too.