US envoy had claimed Americans could be extracting crude by as early as next year
Greenland authorities have forced a US oil company connected to Donald Trump to postpone drilling wells in the Arctic territory, defying claims by the US president’s envoy that Americans could be extracting crude by next year.
Amid Trump’s imperialist threats, tensions have been rising on Greenland’s eastern coast after the oil company brought drilling equipment ashore in July without permission, drawing a “strong warning” from the government.
Just week before Greenland Energy intended to sink its first wells into the tundra, the government said on Thursday: “The necessary regulatory process cannot be completed, and the necessary approvals cannot therefore be obtained before the planned start of drilling.”
It said that during talks Greenlandic officials had expressed concern that the timetable was too tight to assess the environmental and social impact.
The authorities will have to decide whether to sanction drilling in a protected wetland that is home to rare birds and the muskoxen on which local hunters depend. At the earliest, drilling could now commence in the winter of 2027, the government and the company said.
That is a long way off the prediction made as recently as May by Jeff Landry, the hard-right Louisiana governor whom Trump named as his envoy to Greenland. He said after a visit that oil supposedly lying under Greenland could ease the energy crisis caused by the US attack on Iran.
Landry, whose stated goal is to “make Greenland a part of the US”, said: “We could have those barrels on production within 10 months or so.”
Robert Price, the Greenland Energy chief executive, who maintains that oil worth $1tn could lie under the remote Jameson Land region, said: “Greenland Energy remains committed to advancing its oil exploration programme responsibly and in accordance with Greenland’s regulatory process, and in full compliance with Greenlandic authorities.”
Price added: “We will use this time to refine our plans and deepen relationships with local communities, strategic partners and relevant authorities.”
Since a rich friend put the idea of acquiring Greenland in Trump’s head during his first term, the president has threatened to do so by buying it from Denmark, seizing it with military force or cutting a deal.
Shareholders in Greenland Energy had been hoping for a “Trump pump”, a presidential endorsement that could send the New York-listed stock rocketing. But on Wednesday the price fell by more than a third after the drilling delay was announced.
Price had said a ship bringing 300 containers of drilling kit would set sail from Canada for Greenland in September, with a first well to be sunk the following month. He told a community meeting – falsely – that Greenland had granted permission for the company to start landing equipment.
Greenland Energy’s British partner 80 Mile said in an update for investors on Wednesday that the delay was due to the need to “complete the permitting and regulatory approval process”.
80 Mile holds exploration licences granted before Greenland stopped issuing them in 2021, citing the climate crisis.