BP shareholders breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday on the collapse of the Rosneft deal talks, with the stock climbing over 1 per cent.

And quite right too. In its original form, the deal with the Russian state’s oil champion was a high-risk venture hard to sell to shareholders. But not impossible, given the potential rewards in developing the Russian Arctic.

The final version, involving a costly and awkward compromise with BP’s existing Russian partners, was fatally flawed. But BP must not give up on the Arctic. It should try again  – perhaps after Russia’s 2012 presidential election.

BP was fighting on Monday to save its planned $16bn deal with Russian state-run oil group Rosneft before the deadline on the deals lapses at midnight.

The UK group was in talks with Rosneft and with the Russian oligarchs who have blocked the Rosneft deal to protect their interests in BP’s existing Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. As the FT has reported, a buyout of the oligarchs – possibly for around $30bn – is one of the options of the table. But, with three parties to the negotiations, and the Russian state involved, nothing will be agreed until everything is agreed.