If you’re pals with the President of the United States, you apparently don’t need permission to start drilling for oil in other countries.
What happened: Greenland Energy, a Texas-based company set up last year, has brought oil drilling equipment ashore in Greenland, prompting a warning from the Arctic island’s government that it had not granted the company permission to drill in its territory.
The company says that it believes US$1 trillion worth of crude oil may lie beneath a remote region of Greenland called Jameson Land, and says it plans to drill a well to test that theory.
Greenland has not issued new licenses for oil drilling since 2021, and the government says it has not approved Greenland Energy’s plans.
Why it matters: Greenland Energy’s drill-first, ask-questions-later approach could become a test of how rigorously Greenland — and Denmark, of which it is an autonomous territory — will defend its sovereignty against incursions by the U.S.
Donald Trump has recently revived talk of annexing Greenland, promising that it would be “under U.S. operational control” before he left office.
Greenland Energy is stacked with Trump allies connected to his inner circle, per reporting by The Guardian, including its chair Larry Swets, Phil McGraw (aka Dr. Phil), and Carol Craig, a founder of a defence company working on the “Golden Dome” scheme.
What’s next: Greenland and its allies will need to decide whether to allow unwanted drilling by a Trump-linked operation to go ahead or risk antagonizing the White House — a dilemma Canadians can empathize with.—TS
