US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that “massive” oil, gas and mineral exploration is poised to start in Greenland, but the territory has not granted new oil licences since 2021 and its only drilling project cannot begin before the winter 2027 season.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social Tuesday evening, shortly after posting an AI-generated video of himself playing with a tiger (which was after posting a real video of a tiger attacking a man who entered its enclosure in the UK).
Like many of the POTUS’s Truth Social pronouncements, there were no details on timings, companies, or locations. He also mused that Greenland holds more easily accessible oil than almost any land and that the island is vital to defending the United States.
The island’s last three oil licenses cover the Jameson Land Basin on the east coast. These licenses are held by White Flame Energy, a subsidiary of British explorer 80 Mile. Texas-based Greenland Energy has rights to the project through a venture with 80 Mile and had hoped to drill as early as October.
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Greenland’s government warned the licence holder on July 30 after drilling equipment reached the east coast without permission. It said all future logistics work needs prior approval from its mineral resources authority, though it did not order the equipment removed. On August 12, it said the company cannot finish the regulatory process or obtain the approvals it needs before its planned start. Drilling cannot begin until the winter 2027 season at the earliest, and the licences remain valid until 2028.
Greenland Energy chief executive Robert Price said a third-party engineering report found the Jameson Land Basin could hold oil worth $1 trillion. Analysts have estimated prospective resources there at up to 13 billion barrels but call that figure highly speculative. Trump’s Greenland envoy, Jeff Landry, said in May that the island could be shipping out 2 million barrels of oil a day right now. Price says Greenland Energy has nothing to do with the Trump administration, though its management has met Landry.
Trump signed an agreement with Denmark and Greenland on September 22 in New York. The deal lets the US expand Pituffik Space Base, build two new bases and install a Golden Dome missile defense system, and it has no end date. It also keeps states outside NATO, its partners, and the EU from gaining control or meaningful influence over “Particularly Sensitive Sectors,” a category that includes resource extraction. Reports on the deal describe no drilling rights, and Denmark and Greenland still must ratify it.
Read: Base Expansions, No End Date, And A Lock-In Clause—Inside The Greenland Security Agreement
Greenland’s government cited “tangible and significant benefits” in a fact sheet. Greenland Energy’s shares more than doubled after the announcement.
Mining also faces a long road ahead. A CSIS analyst said in January that mineral development in Greenland is “not imminent or guaranteed,” with few projects underway. Greenland bans uranium mining, and because many minerals occur alongside uranium, the ban makes developing them, well, complicated.
