American dreams of finding millions of barrels of oil in the East Greenlandic subsurface have been put on hold by the Greenlandic government.
In a press release from the Government of Greenland, it states:
- Naalakkersuisut (the Government of Greenland, ed.) assesses that planned drilling activities cannot be carried out in the winter of 2026/2027.
Thus, they are putting an end to the companies' dreams of starting the hunt for oil as early as this autumn.
The reason given is that the authorities cannot complete the approval process in time, and the decision also applies to 'preparatory activities'.
In the press release, the government describes a meeting between the Greenlandic Department of Business and Raw Materials and White Flame Energy A/S, which was granted permission to search for oil in the area long ago.
- At the meeting, the Department expressed concern about the very tight schedule, it states.
It is still unclear when an approval might be ready.
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Who is involved
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*White Flame Energy A/S* : Greenlandic subsidiary, which is the official, legal license holder and owner of the three permits to search for oil.
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*80 Mile PLC* : British raw materials company that acquired White Flame Energy in 2024 and thus owns the company that holds the licenses.
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*Greenland Energy Company* : American oil company that has entered into a partnership with 80 Mile. They act as investor and operator, financing the exploration and responsible for the actual drilling.
Source: The Danish Parliament ( https://www.ft.dk/samling/20252/almdel/GRU/bilag/15/3151961.pdf )
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'Disappointment' at the companies
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Earlier in the day, the company 80 Mile and their American financing partner Greenland Energy Company, which are involved in the drilling, had already issued similar press releases.
Rod McIllree, who is the managing director of 80 Mile, is disappointed but has no plans to abandon the project.
- Although we are disappointed that the timeline for the Jameson drilling program has been affected, the company remains fully committed to further developing the project, which has very promising potential, he states in a press release.
The companies have spoken with the Greenlandic government, and they cannot get permission to drill before next year at the earliest, according to reports. This is reported by the Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq and KNR.
Earlier this summer, the plans prompted citizens to protest on the streets in several Greenlandic towns.
In several places in the country, Greenlanders took to the streets in July to protest the drilling plans. Among other places here in Nuuk. (Photo: © Anda Hansen)
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What do they actually have permission for?
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Greenland stopped all new permits to search for or drill for oil in 2021, but a handful of old licenses are still valid, and it is these that Greenland Energy Company is using.
This has previously been described by the Greenlandic KNR and the Danish Danwatch.
Nevertheless, they still lack a number of specific government permits to proceed with the project.
Greenland Energy took a dip on the stock exchange after the announcement. (© finance.yahoo)
It is only a few weeks ago that drilling equipment was landed in the area for the project. The dream was to start searching for oil in October.
But this happened without the necessary approval from the authorities, and shortly after, the Greenlandic self-government sent them a 'strong warning' ( https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnaalakkersuisut.gl%2FNyheder%2F2026%2F07%2F3007_80_Mile%3Fsc_lang%3Dda&data=05%7C02%7Cceka%40dr.dk%7Cb0ce897ce3b24a65606e08def875409e%7Cfa7681ea962f4d1dad37f1279d621aed%7C1%7C0%7C639221379627983737%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=znfHTbICWffTq6lvZlhkC%2BW%2F4MK6NT9KFbSOzjMyc%2BM%3D&reserved=3 ) and a request that all logistics in the future must be pre-approved by them.
At the same time, the Greenlandic government has launched a website so people can stay informed.
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Who is behind the companies?
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Greenland Energy, which is the financing partner for 80 Mile and also operationally deeply involved in the project, has hired a number of profiles with ties to the American President Donald Trump.
Among other things, it was intended that the Trump-allied TV celebrity Dr. Phil would help profile the project.
This was, however, abandoned back in July.
Read also: Dr. Phil drops plans for Greenland visit ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenland/dr-phil-dropper-planer-om-groenlands-besoeg )
At the same time, Danwatch ( https://danwatch.dk/greenland-energy-hyrer-profiler-med-taette-baand-til-trump-og-usas-militaer/ ) reported earlier this summer that Carol Craig had joined the company's board. She is the managing director of two American defense companies that have million-dollar contracts with the US military and the Pentagon.
And it is not long ago that the president's good friend and special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, announced that he expects oil can be extracted from the Greenlandic subsurface as early as next year.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.