Greenland petroleum exploration history: Rise and fall, learnings, and future perspectives

Abstract In a period of less than 10 years, Greenland has seen a dramatic change in industry interest from being one of the hottest regions for investments to virtually no activities at all. As a result of detailed strategic planning and several successful licensing rounds offshore West Greenland, in Baffin Bay, and offshore North-East Greenland, activities culminated in the period 2010–2015 with large 2D and 3D seismic programs, seven exploration wells and lots of relevant science based on large field campaigns and drilling of cored holes. The history behind the licensing activities and research projects, and the most important results and models with implications for exploration are reviewed in this paper that also gives a status on present knowledge, main risks, and future needs. In the same period, Greenland experienced many political and administrative changes in relation to petroleum exploration. The massive relinquishment of licenses took place during a short period, and various key factors of importance for decision makers are discussed. It is not the resource potential nor the data background that is the main problem in Greenland exploration. It is mainly a combination of drastic fall in oil prices causing reduced exploration budgets in a critical period of decisions, high costs and technical challenges, rigid regulations, and lack of flexibility in relation to commitments that caused industry to leave Greenland. With the present industry outlook, it does not seem likely that industry will ever come back, especially not with the signals from the new Greenland Government. Data and knowledge will, however, be of importance for future scientific drilling and new research projects, especially on tectonic history combined with models of paleo climate and oceanography.