Greenland's Future: Oil, Drama 🧊🔥🤯

CHAPTER 1: THE GREENLAND OIL AMBITION
“So,” Robert Price said via an interpreter, “we have a project to drill for oil here.” The Texas oil company that Price represents, Greenland Energy, hopes to prove that billions of barrels of crude lie underground by bringing in 300 shipping containers of drilling kit. “We have the permit to put the equipment on the land,” footage of the gathering in Ittoqqortoormiit shows Price saying. “And then we’ve filed our permits – pending approval – to drill.” Greenland Energy, formed last year and listed on the Nasdaqstock exchange in New York, is putting up $60m to drill two wells in exchange for a majority stake in the project. Price has claimed that crude worth $1tn (£750bn) could lie beneath Jameson Land. “I believe it’s there,” he said during the meeting in Ittoqqortoormiit, a settlement of 300 people in Jameson Land. “The scientists believe that it’s there. But until we drill these wells, we don’t know.” The company’s ambitions are centered around exploiting existing, albeit controversial, licenses held by 80 Mile, a UK-registered company, and a potential stake in a resource of significant value.

CHAPTER 2: A TRUMP-LINKED VENTURE
Trump’s lieutenants are using the prospect of an American oil find in Greenland to bolster their case for an American takeover. Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, the hard-right Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry, returned from a visit in May to declare on Fox News: “We need a deal. Greenland needs a deal. We could be – Greenland could be – exporting 2m barrels of oil a day right now.” Landry, who says his task is to “make Greenland a part of the US”, added: “We could have those barrels on production within 10 months or so.” The ventures range from rare-earth minerals and hydroelectric power to bottling “luxury” spring water. Greenlanders have watched nervously as Trump has exercised US military power and toyed with doing so in the Danish territory. The day after he sent special forces to snatch the leader of Venezuela, Trump said: “We do need Greenland, absolutely.” Trump cited oil as the reason the US needed to stamp its authority on Venezuela. The US has since extracted oil revenues of about $8bn with scant oversight.

CHAPTER 3: LOGISTICS AND TECHNICAL EXECUTION
Despite seemingly not yet having permission, it has chartered an Arctic-going vessel to ferry its equipment 4,000km through icy waters to Greenland’s eastern coast. Price, an energy industry veteran who has become the public face of the company, said the vessel would depart in two months, on 12 September, with drilling to begin in October. Halliburton, the giant Houston-based contractor once led by the former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, will run the logistics. David Boertmann, an expert on Greenland’s birds, said the conservation zone hosts important numbers of barnacle geese and pink-footed geese as well as whimbrel, golden plover, Sabine’s gull and snowy owl, plus muskoxen. Oilexploration activities could threaten the birds’ habitat, Boertmann said. The project relies heavily on established expertise, notably from Halliburton, to ensure the complex logistical and technical challenges of drilling in the Arctic are overcome.

CHAPTER 4: CONTROVERSY AND DENIALS
But Greenland’s resources ministry said that contrary to Price’s claim, there were “no actually active permissions for any exploration activity or permissions for preparations for these activities”. The dispute threatens a showdown between the Trump-linked backers of Greenland Energy and the authorities in the vast, sparsely populated territory. Avaaraq Olsen, the mayor of the region that covers the capital, Nuuk, and extends east across Jameson Land, where the oil drilling is planned, said she was “so afraid” that Americans striking oil could align with Trump’s plans. “We are like the most peaceful place on Earth,” she said. “And we have always lived in peace and harmony. And suddenly there is all these Americans trying to take over.” Greenland stopped issuing licences to explore for oil in 2021 after 50 years of fruitless drilling. “The environmental consequences of oil exploration and extraction are too great,” a minister said at the time.

CHAPTER 5: A WEB OF CONNECTIONS
The same month, Greenland Energy announced a deal with Phil McGraw’s Envoy Media. Better known as Dr Phil, the TV personality’s 20 years hosting a talkshow that spun out of Oprah Winfrey’s show made him a household name in the US. McGraw spoke at a Trump rally in 2024. After Trump’s victory, McGraw “embedded” himself with ICE agents enforcing Trump’s immigration crackdown. His latest venture, a documentary series about Greenland Energy, will be broadcast on cable and social media and, according to the company, will “capture the mission of these modern-day wildcatters”. Kenneth Griffin bought 9% of Greenland Energy’s shares. Griffin is a Republican mega-donor and, despite criticisingthe Trumps’ self-enrichment, gave $1m towards the president’s second inauguration. Carol Craig, a US Navy veteran, joined Greenland Energy’s board. Sidus Space, the defence tech company she founded, is working on Trump’s Golden Dome missile defence system.