Cairn Energy to team up with Statoil in Baffin Bay exploration

This map shows the location of Cairn’s blocks off the coast of Greenland. (FILE IMAGE)

Scottish Cairn Energy plans to partner up with Statoil to look for oil and gas offshore of western Greenland.

Cairn announced Jan. 23 that it has sold a 30 per cent share in one of its Baffin Bay licenses to the Norwegian group.

Cairn has been looking for partners to shoulder the costs of exploration, after two years and $1 billion spent looking for oil off Greenland and coming up dry.

Cairn drilled five wells and spent $600 million in 2011, with the hope of tapping into a large oil or gas find.

Together, the two companies will partner on the Pitu block, Cairn’s northernmost of 11 licenses which is located in a sea known as “iceberg alley,” which has yet to be drilled.

The first exploration period on the area, which will include interpretation of recent seismic testing, ends in December, 2014.

The exact terms of the Cairn-Statoil agreement have been kept confidential, although Cairn says it will continue to operate the project, while Statoil could operate any future development.