Nasdaq-listed company: Expects to start drilling in Northeast Greenland this year

The American oil company Greenland Energy Company, which is collaborating with the British 80 Mile on an oil project in Jameson Land, was given the opportunity to ring the opening bell on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York on Tuesday, April 7.

A landmark opportunity

On the same occasion, CEO Robert Price stated that the company expects to deliver drilling equipment to the area in the third quarter and that they will start drilling in the fourth quarter in Jameson Land.

– We are faced with a landmark opportunity to connect American capital to one of the world's most resource-rich and geopolitically strategic regions. By unlocking Greenland's enormous resources, we are creating significant value for all of our stakeholders, including the Greenlandic people and our shareholders.

– Energy, economic security and political stability are inextricably linked. Greenland Energy is pursuing this extraordinary opportunity that strengthens Western countries' energy security through responsible development and environmental stewardship. Our experienced partners are driving progress in Jameson Land, one of the largest, only, remaining large unexplored areas in the world, which could hold up to 13 billion barrels of oil […] Field activity is underway, equipment is being mobilized, and we remain focused on putting equipment ashore in the third quarter and starting drilling in the fourth quarter, said Robert Price, among other things.

The announcement on the stock exchange follows a press release from the company stating that they have entered into a strategic agreement with the Canadian drilling company Stampede Drilling to provide crew and drilling rig for the upcoming tasks in Jameson Land.

Does not have approvals in place

According to the Department of Mineral Resources, the company still only has permission to put equipment ashore. And therefore does not have the right approvals in place to set up a camp, establish quay facilities or start drilling.

Sermitsiaq has asked Professor of Financial Management at Aalborg University, Per Nikolaj Bukh, whether it is misleading when the company says on the Nasdaq exchange that they expect to start drilling in the 4th quarter, when they do not have permission to do anything other than put equipment ashore.

– If you are completely sober, the company says that “they are still focused on putting equipment ashore in the third quarter and starting drilling in the fourth quarter”. They are not saying that they are starting, but that they are focused on getting started, and as a company you must have some goals. But it is clear that this project is probably much more uncertain in its chances of success than the company is trying to express on the New York Stock Exchange. So you are a long way from pumping oil from a vulnerable Arctic area, says Per Nikolaj Bukh.

Vulnerable Arctic environment

And the vulnerable Arctic environment in particular may prove crucial for the project’s implementation, because Jameson Land is “naturally unique in the Greenland context due to the large, continuous lowland areas.”

This is evident from a strategic environmental assessment of both mineral and oil activities prepared by the DCE-National Center for Environment and Energy in 2012. The report states that the area has a rich wildlife with musk oxen, geese and waders as the most important.

According to a spokesperson for the environmental organization NOAH, it is also important to note that Naalakkersuisut just suspended the oil strategy in 2021, and as one of the first countries in the Arctic introduced a ban on all future oil exploration for environmental reasons.

– But because the company here received an oil license before the ban was introduced, they have been able to continue their activities, even though the project poses a danger to the vulnerable Arctic environment. At NOAH, we regret that the ban was not introduced sooner, but we are also hopeful in relation to the statements we have seen so far from the department that the company must of course comply with all requirements and conditions. This will probably mean that the project will not come to fruition, says Niels Henrik Hooge from NOAH.