Here’s an interesting discussion of ExxonMobil’s involvement in the “stranded asset” debate. Robert Rapier seeks to clarify Exxon’s worldview and the company’s response to recent climate action shareholder resolutions. He asks, how much time per day do you devote to planning how you’ll spend your lottery winnings? “You may fantasize about what you would do if you won the lottery, but you don’t spend a lot of time each day making financial plans based on that outcome. Likewise, I can assure you with 100 percent certainty that ExxonMobil is spending some efforts on alternatives to oil. It’s not a lot relative to their overall business, but it’s relative to how likely they think demand is shifting away from oil. And if demand starts to shift, they will shift their spending to try to capture where the markets are headed.” [Energy Trends Insider]

Sanctioned Russian bank Rossiya is the first major financial institution to expand into Crimea. Western powers dubbed Rossiya the Russian political elite’s personal bank and US officials reportedly said it would be “frozen out of the dollar.” Effectively shut out of the international banking system, some experts say Rossiya has nothing to lose by entering Crimea, but others believe the move could invite further sanctions. The Kremlin threw Bank Rossiya a small lifeline by granting “it the right to process payments on the domestic wholesale electricity market, which will allow it to earn an estimated 4 billion rubles ($111 million) per year from commissions.” [Moscow Times]

Husky Energy is partnering with CO2 Solutions on a carbon-capture pilot project at one of Husky’s Canadian heavy oil projects. “The test project, to be operated by CO2 Solutions at Husky’s Pikes Peak South site in Saskatchewan, is expected to start early next year and wrap up by the third quarter of 2015, Quebec City-based CO2 said today in a statement.” [Bloomberg]