Bidding opens for West Greenland offshore oil and gas

Jorgen Waever Johansen, Greenland’s minister of housing, infrastructure and minerals and petroleum, recently opened a new round of bidding for oil and gas exploration licenses in areas offshore from west Greenland.

The event in Ilulissat attracted a number of international oil companies from Europe and North America.

In 2005, new seismic data from offshore Disko and Nuussuaq confirmed that very large oil deposits are in that area.

A Greenland government news release says there is “a good chance that large amounts of oil and gas have been formed and accumulated in the areas offshore West Greenland between 67 N and 71 N.”

The release also says Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum and the National Environmental Research Institute have conducted “thorough environmental investigations to ensure that oil activities in the area are carried out in an environmentally secure manner.”

The environmentally sensitive Disko Bay near Ilulissat, a World Heritage site, is not included in the current licensing round.

The Calgary-based oil and gas company, EnCana Corp., already holds the Atammik licence offshore from west Greenland. This licence, granted during a licensing round in 2002, is for an area northeast of the new licence area.