Licensed to drill? How a Trump-linked Texas oil company is elbowing its way into Greenland

At a meeting in Ittoqqortoormiit, a settlement of 300 people, Robert Price said he believed $1tn of crude lay beneath Jameson Land. Photograph: Adrian Wojcik/Getty/iStockphotoView image in fullscreenAt a meeting in Ittoqqortoormiit, a settlement of 300 people, Robert Price said he believed $1tn of crude lay beneath Jameson Land. Photograph: Adrian Wojcik/Getty/iStockphotoGreenlandLicensed to drill? How a Trump-linked Texas oil company is elbowing its way into GreenlandGreenland Energy says billions of barrels of crude could lie beneath territory and claims it has permission to bring drilling kit ashore – a claim denied by Nuuk

On 10 June, a snowy-haired American in his 60s addressed the residents of a remote Greenland hamlet. He was there to tell them about a business venture supported by figures linked to Donald Trump. “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.”

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. Trump’s lieutenants are using the prospect of an American oil find in Greenland to bolster their case for an American takeover.

View image in fullscreenJeff Landry, right, on a visit to Nuuk in May as Trump’s special envoy to Greenland. Landry said the territory ‘could be exporting 2m barrels of oil a day’. Photograph: Christian Klindt Soelbeck/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/GettyThe US president’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.”

Greenland Energy appears to be the only company making plans to drill in the territory. 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.

Ever since Trump made his imperial desires for Greenland explicit, US business interests have been gaining footholds in its vast expanses. 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.